I Hope You Dance
by CaptainK8
Summary: What does Lisa Cuddy do on Tuesday nights?  Cameron soon finds out, and is surprised by what she witnesses.  Eventual Cuddy/Cameron
1. The First Tuesday

**A/N: Ok, so this is my latest project. I don't own House or Avenue Q. The characters in this story that are not from House are based on actual people in my own classes. And Crash? That's me. I've put myself into stories before, but not like this. This is completely me. Nothing held out, nothing added in, just me. If you don't like it, sorry, can't change who I am. Yes, some of the incidents that happen during class are real. I love reviews so please leave them!**

It was Tuesday night and Lisa Cuddy couldn't have been happier. In fact, it was the first Tuesday night in September. She had had a very hard and stressful summer and was looking forward to this release more than she even knew. After changing out of her work attire, Cuddy inspected her appearance in the mirror. Her hair was refusing to stay straight any longer, the frizz always found its way in. No bother. There wasn't anyone to impress where she was going. She packed her bag and made her way to her car. She was leaving the hospital later than she had hoped to, but was confident that she would make it in time. She couldn't wait to catch up and just forget about everything that has been going on.

While stuck in traffic, she began to think back on her day. Her mind was wandering down to the ER, well, more specifically to one ER attending. Curious as to why her mind would go there, she realised she was spending an increasing amount of time down there and away from her clinic lately. That was certainly odd. She sighed and listened to the music coming from one of her favourite albums and began to sing along as she drove towards Trenton.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Allison Cameron had to admit that she was a little nervous pulling into her parking space. It had been years since she had actually taken a dance class, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to pick up where she had left off. This would be good though, she needed something to take her mind away from the hospital. Not just the hospital, no. She was fixated on a specific person at the hospital. Cuddy had been spending a lot of time in the ER lately and Cameron was having trouble with that. It wasn't that she didn't like the woman there, in fact, it was quite the opposite. For years she had been intrigued by the older woman. She wanted to know her, and there was no denying that she was definitely attracted to her. It was also no secret that Tuesday nights bugged Cameron. Once a week the entire hospital knew that Cuddy was off limits no matter what, but nobody knew why. Cameron needed to take her mind of wondering what could possibly have Cuddy so distracted on a weekly basis, and thankfully, she found a great dance studio that just happened to have an adult tap and adult jazz class on said night. Now she could focus on something else instead of indulging her unfulfilled fantasies.

Cameron got out of her car and made her way in the lower door and up the narrow staircase to the studio upstairs. She had been here two weeks before to register for classes. It was a nice place. There were two spacious rooms with one wall of each covered in floor to ceiling mirrors while the other three walls were lined with barres. Along with that, there was an office desk and a changing room and a waiting area up front.

In the waiting area there were four women talking animatedly with a familiar looking man. When she walked in, all five of them looked up and smiled. "Hi! Are you here for tap and jazz? My name is Michele." The woman looked to be in her late thirties. She had black wavy hair except for an unruly whisp of electric blue in her bangs. "This here is Toni." Michele gestured to a woman in her mid forties with short hair that she wore spiked a bit. "That's Gina, and that's Kate, but everyone calls her Crash." I looked at the slight woman sitting next to Gina. She had really long hair that, when the light shined on it just right, was actually a purplish red. She also had a pair of stylish tortoise shell glasses that just rounded off her look.

"Crash?" Inquired Cameron.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll get the picture soon. What's your name?"

"Oh, it's Allison. You can call me Al if you want to."

"Hey, you didn't introduce me! I'm Josh." The man stuck out his hand. "I think I recognize you, but I'm not sure why-"

Just then, like a tornado, another woman came bursting through the door from behind Allison. "Ugh! Traffic was a mess! I didn't think I would get here in time!"

Allison's head whipped around so fast she thought it would fly off. She knew that voice. She felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach immediately tied itself into knots. While she was trying to process this new information, a chorus of "Lisa!" could be heard echoing through the room.

Finally finding her voice, she stood up. "D-D-Doctor Cuddy?"

She was met with a look of initial shock, which very quickly turned into a warm smile. Cuddy warmly grabbed Allison's hands. "Dr. Cameron. Here? It's Lisa. There's no Dr. Cuddy in this studio. Got it?" She was still smiling broadly.

Allison nodded her head and smiled back. "In that case, it's Allison, or Al for me." Allison took in the woman before her. She was dressed simply in a white tank top and black dance pants. She was much more relaxed and was genuinely happy. Her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, and she was wearing glasses? They were almost identical to the ones the Crash was wearing. But there was something else, too. Instead of looking slightly up at the woman's eyes, she was looking down. She looked down and saw that Cuddy, no, not Cuddy, she reminded herself, Lisa had traded her 6-inch heels for a pair of sneakers. "Wow. I didn't realize you were short." Shit. Did she really just say that? Everyone in the room erupted in fits of laughter. Even Lisa.

Lisa took a chair across the room and everyone started up the conversation again. They discussed Emma's honeymoon and inquired when pictures of the wedding were going to be brought in. Josh talked about Aaron, who Allison presumed was his partner. Allison saw Lisa getting a little uncomfortable at the direction that this conversation was going. "So, Lisa. You haven't mentioned your wife yet…"

Whoa. Back up. Wife? Cuddy was with a woman? A woman she had been with long enough to be considered a wife? Allison's mind was spinning from this new information. How could she have never noticed? An image of last winter's charity event came to mind. Cuddy in her long navy dress with, wow, Josh hanging off her arm? So that's where she recognized him from! She was brought out of her deep thoughts by Lisa's answer.

Her voice shook a little and she was rubbing her hand across her forehead. "Tess left. End of June. Ran off with some woman to California. Can we please change the subject?" She was visibly upset. It was then that Allison decided that if she ever met this Tess person she would rip her heart to shreds.

Thankfully, at that point everyone started reaching into their bags for tap shoes and Michele made an interesting discovery. "OMG! I have three left feet!"

"Come on, Michele. We all know you took last year off, but surely you couldn't have gotten that bad!" Toni was laughing as she choked out the last sentence.

"No. You don't get it. For some reason I have three tap shoes. And they're all left feet!" At this the entire room erupted in another round of laughter.

Lisa was laughing for the first time in months. It felt great. "Wow. I've really missed this."

Just then the door to one of the studios was flung open and out walked a mass of teenage girls wearing burgundy leotards, pink tights, black skirts, and pointe shoes. The teacher walked out grinning. "Ok, ladies! Ready?" Everyone followed into the studio, feet clicking on the floor. Except, of course, for Michele, who was wearing sneakers.

The teacher introduced herself and began to describe the warm ups. The first one was a flap warm up which was easy enough to grasp. The music started and everyone began to tap. At the end of the exercise, Michele again spoke. "What the hell was that, Beth? You made us do the fast one on the first night?" Again, everyone started laughing. Allison could tell that woman, and probably Toni, were going to make the class extremely interesting.

The next warm up was a shuffle combination. It was also easy enough to follow. After that, the class did several rhythm patterns. After the fourth rhythm pattern, Gina plopped herself down on the floor. "I can't stand it anymore! There is something in my shoe and it's making me nuts!" She took the shoe off and sure enough, out popped a hearing aid battery. Again, more laughter. More exercises down the floor, and they were finally learning a combination. It was a bit challenging, and it was difficult for Allison seeing as she was spending the entire time staring at Lisa in the mirror. Lisa was definitely a good dancer. No, she was a great dancer. She was easily the best in the class.

After an hour, everyone was drenched in sweat. They had a few minutes of break time before jazz class started. If Allison was already having trouble comprehending this new side of Lisa Cuddy, what happened next shocked her out of her mind. Crash pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. "Does everyone remember the promise that Lisa made at last year's recital?" She unfolded the paper and began to read. "If Crash can make it through one class without tripping, slipping, or otherwise doing anything that causes her to land on the floor, I, Lisa Cuddy, will perform musical theatre. Well, I don't think any of those things happened, so… pay up woman!"

Lisa had known this was going to happen. In fact, she had planned on doing it either way. The only person who knew what she had been planning was Josh, and that was because he was the one who had gotten her the music. He was a choreographer for the musical Avenue Q on Broadway. She had asked him if he could get her a recording of a specific song with just the instrumentals, no vocals, and he had come through for her with the entire soundtrack. Slowly, she reached into her bag and pulled out a CD.

"Lise, which one?" Josh asked.

"Track 9." That was all she had to say.

Josh made one last comment. "Ladies? Blink now because this is going to be too good to waste time blinking during it."

Lisa slid the disk into the player and took a pose facing the back of the room in the center. The music began and she started to move provocatively in place. She slowly turned around and landed in yet another provocative pose. Then she started to sing.

_I can make you feel special_  
_When it sucks to be you_  
_Let me make you feel special_  
_For an hour or two_

Allison had never known that the other woman could sing. Then again, an hour ago, she swore that the other woman never danced a day in her life. She continued to sing and dance in a very suggestive manner.

_Your life's a routine that repeats each day_  
_No one cares who you are or what you say_  
_And sometimes you feel like you're nobody_  
_But you can feel like somebody with me_

It was one of the most amazing displays Allison had ever seen. She could not peel her eyes away even if she had any desire to. Lisa Cuddy was dripping with sweat and her face was very red, but it was quite possibly the single most erotic thing that Allison had ever seen. There was now music that had no vocals and the dancing got more intense, if that were even possible. During this entire time, Lisa was staring directly into Allison's eyes. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that she was being teased.

_Yeah, they're real_

During that line, she brought her hands up and pressed her breasts together and Allison thought she might just die right on the spot.

_When we're together the earth will shake_  
_And the stars fall into the sea_  
_So come on baby let down your guard_  
_When your date's in the bathroom I'll slip you my card_  
_I can tell just by looking that you've got it hard_  
_For me_  
_For me_  
_For me_  
_For me_  
_For me_  
_For me_  
_I can tell just by looking that you are incredibly hard_  
_For me_

The room erupted in applauds and laughter but all Allison could do was stand there and stare with her mouth hanging slightly open. She was brought back to reality when Beth announced it was time to do warm ups for jazz.

They began with a series of stretches and lunges followed by sit ups and push ups. The next order of business was battements. Allison hadn't done them in a while, but they weren't hard. She watched as Lisa's were practically up to her head and she was impressed. That was when she finally understood the nick name Crash. Kate had somehow managed to kick her own leg out from underneath her with the other one and landed on the floor. Everyone chuckled and somebody groaned "Kate…" She got up though, and continued on. Next they did a few turning combinations, including one down the floor. It was hard enough for Allison to do double pirouettes, but she noticed that Lisa was pulling triples, and sometimes quads, without much effort at all. After that were leaps. She noticed that Lisa's were incredibly high and long. The moved on to finish the class off with a combination to a song called Sexy Chicks. It was a little more like hip-hop, but it was fun. Allison was thoroughly exhausted by the time the class was over.

Lisa came up to her drinking from a water bottle. "Hey, did you have fun?"

"Wow, yeah. It was awesome. I'm exhausted, but I feel great."

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late." Lisa smirked and walked out into the parking lot towards her car.

It was Tuesday night and Allison Cameron couldn't have been happier.

**Please R&R and let me know how you like it! I basically have pretty much a good idea of how this story will progress so I shouldn't take way too long to write more!**


	2. Stress, Gas, and Some Good TV

**Thank you all for reading! I hope you like this chapter. Sorry it has been delayed. I actually wrote the very last chapter already since I was inspired, then came back to work on this one. Don't worry, the last one is a long way off. Hopefully I will have another one sooner than a week this time. I still have a great idea about where this story is going, so bear with me!**

**Please read and review. I love you input!**

Allison's alarms were obnoxious. All three of them were. She had the first one beeped annoyingly from an alarm clock across the room to try to force her out of bed to turn it off, which she had refused to do so far this morning. Five minutes later, another one joined in from her cell phone to the tune of "Suddenly I see" by K. T. Tunstall. That one would last thirty seconds, and go off every five minutes for half an hour. The third one came three minutes later, also from her cell, to the tune of "When The Morning Comes" by Smashmouth. That would also go off every five minutes for half an hour. With a groan, she finally pulled herself out of bed and shut off all three alarms before stumbling to the shower.

With another groan she reached over to turn the shower on. She hurt like hell. Every muscle in her body was screaming at her, as if to ask, "Why?" and all she could think back was, "Because it's fun". Fifteen minutes later, she was feeling a bit better, but decided to grab some Advil before running out the door with a travel mug of coffee.

During the drive to work she continued to process the events from the night before. The classes had been extremely fun and entertaining, as well as challenging, and, well, fun. She would definitely go back. She smiled as she remembered all of the hilarious things that had happened, and then blushed when the image of Lisa Cuddy dancing and singing came to mind. _Who was that woman and what did she do with Lisa Cuddy the Dean of Medicine? _In a way, she was actually embarrassed to have seen what she knew must be a side of the woman that she wasn't supposed to know existed.

She was stopped just inside the main entrance of the building. "Dr. Cameron, Dr. Cuddy wants to see you in her office right away. She says it's very important".

"Sure, thanks. I'll head right over." She had a sinking feeling about this, but she knew she would have to face this. Her sinking feeling only dissipated slightly when she thought about the brief conversation between the two women before exiting the studio the night before.

Upon reaching the Dean's office, she gently gave a hesitant knock. "Come in" could be heard from the other side of the door. As she walked in she saw Cuddy completely engrossed in something on her computer screen and patiently waited. Looking up, Cuddy smiled. "Dr. Cameron, please have a seat" she said, still with a smile, gesturing to a chair. After she had nervously taken a seat across the desk from the other woman, she glanced around at the items on the desk curiously. If nothing else, last night had certainly piqued her curiosity more than it had already been in the previous several years. She was brought out of her thoughts when the older woman began to talk, almost hesitantly. "Last night…"

"Look, Dr. Cuddy. I understand completely if you want me to not come back. It's your life, your haven from this crazy world that you have to run each and every day. It would be easy enough for me to stop now and find somewhere else. These are your friends, your extended family. I don't-"

"Whoa. Slow down" Cuddy replied with a chuckle on her lips. "That is not what I wanted to say. It's nice to not have to hide myself completely from everybody here. It's really nice. I just wanted to ask you one thing though. In the past twenty four hours you have seen and heard more about me than anyone here in this hospital. As far as you go, the cat's out of the bag now so to speak, so you leaving the class would accomplish nothing but to frustrate you and make your life harder. It's not like you can "unhear" and "unsee" what I do on Tuesday nights. I just wanted to ask you if you could please respect my privacy and keep this out of the gossip. I don't mind you knowing who I am outside of work, but I would really appreciate it if you were the only one. I hope that is a reasonable request".

"Of course it is, and I completely respect it. And you." Cameron added as an afterthought. She looked again at the desk and her eyes were drawn to a picture of a very young girl in an adorable bunny costume consisting of a white furry leotard with a bunny on it and a pink tutu, little bunny ears, and giant white furry bunny mittens. "She's cute" she said, gesturing to the photo. "Does your… niece? Does your niece take classes at our studio too?" She looked back at the other woman who was leaning back in her chair casually with a funny grin on her face. "What? I'm sorry, did I just overstep some boundaries there…?"

Cuddy pressed her grinning lips together hard trying not to laugh out loud. She opened her mouth a little and licked her top teeth, at which point she began smiling again, now confident that she would not laugh, but the twinkle in her eyes may have betrayed her humor. She was looking at Cameron squirming in her chair and realised that she had to say something. "I don't have a niece" was all she could say.

"I'm sorry. I just assumed. She looks so much like you. She's got your hair and eyes. I just thought that you were related or something."

"She does look a lot like me, doesn't she. In fact, people might just say she looks exactly like me, at least the way I may have looked when I was four years old…"

Finally catching up with the conversation, Cameron's eyes went wide, as did her mouth. "Oh my God! You were so cute!" she squealed. She reached for the picture and studied it intently. "You don't look particularly happy, though."

"It was my first ever dance recital. According to my mother, the costume was quite itchy, especially the leotard and gloves because of the inside of the fur. I like the picture here for a few reasons. First, it is just an adorable photo and I needed something to brighten up the room a bit. Second, I chose this particular photo because it reminds me that some situations can be uncomfortable, but if you stick through them, they can bring you a lifetime of happiness." Cuddy was stuck in her thoughts at all of the happiness that dancing has brought her since that time. It got her through high school, college, med school, and everything since then.

The two women were brought back to the moment when the door was flung open. "Doctor Cuddy. I was going to do a procedure but apparently Foreman decided that he wasn't going to do what I tell him to until we have your approval."

Cuddy turned to Cameron. "I'm sorry about that. We can finish this later. I'll come find you in the ER."

"See you later then" Cameron said before making her way to the emergency services to begin her day. They shared a smile and then she exited the room.

"What do you want, House?"

PPTHPPTHPPTH

The following week went by extremely fast due to both women being overwhelmingly busy. In the emergency department, Cameron was dealing with the usual number of patients, but one of her doctors had been out sick most of the week and she could not find a replacement. Cuddy had been busy because next month's inspection had been moved up (and nobody told her) to Thursday, and it took several days to sort out. In addition to that, House had been on a kick about treating just about anything with some sort of unrelated disease (nobody understood exactly what he was trying to do except for Cuddy) due to some sort of bet with a doctor in Florida.

Thank goodness it was Tuesday.

Cameron walked down to the cafeteria around one to get some lunch, trying to brush off some of her fatigue and stress. She was impatiently waiting in line when she felt somebody walk up behind her.

"Doctor Cameron" she turned around to face an equally exhausted and stressed out Cuddy.

"Hey. What can I do for you?" Cameron really didn't want to put any more work into her workload, but she would if Cuddy asked her to. It was not only her job, but now she had begun to think of the other woman as her friend, and she would do what she could to help her out, especially in a time of need.

Cuddy frowned slightly, knowing how busy the other woman was, yet she still had offered her help, more or less. "Nothing, actually. I was just wondering if you were coming tonight?"

Cameron replied with a smile. "Is House hooked on Vicodin? Of course I'll be there. I am really looking forward to some stress relief."

Now it was Cuddy's turn to smile. "See you there then." With that, she turned around with her lunch and left. She was headed back to her office to try to finish a proposal for a donor who was interested in contributing funds to the walk in clinic.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Allison was chatting with Michele, Toni, Gina, and Kate when the door at the top of the stairs opened.

"… already told him that he can't do that… He didn't listen to me the first three times so he made you call?... He really said that? Tell him that "breasts and a vagina" as he so eloquently put it are not going to change my mind on this. Goodbye." She ended the call and turned her phone off. Her pager was still on in case there were any real emergencies. Lisa dropped her bag onto the floor and took a seat, at which point she looked up to find the entire room staring at her with looks of confusion on their faces.

"House?" was all Allison had to say.

Lisa nodded her head. "He made Thirteen call me this time. He came by to ask me to sign off on a cervical puncture three times today because he wanted fluid. I told him there was no medical reason why he couldn't just do a lumbar puncture. Every time he had a different reason, none of them were reason enough to do a CP. I guess he figured one more try wouldn't hurt?"

Allison snorted. "Yeah. I guess you got plenty of those kinds of calls from me over the years, didn't you?" She searched through her bag and brought out a pair of tap shoes and began to put them on. Lisa followed her example, as did the rest of the class.

"Yeah, but at least you had the decency to do it while I was still at the hospital. In all fairness, though, since Dr. Hadley is new she probably doesn't yet know about the "no Tuesday" rule… but House does. He is just doing this to piss me off, isn't he?"

"When does he ever have a different motive?"

All attention shifted back to Michele who pulled out a pair of brand new tap shoes. "I decided to go for the split sole this time. I think maybe it'll help with toe stands. What do you guys think?"

"I actually think it's easier to do the toe stands in the other ones, but most people don't, I think." Kate was inspecting her taps while talking.

The room opened and the ballet students from the previous class filed out, and the women, plus Josh, filed in.

"Ladies. How are you all today?" Beth was cheerful and energetic, as always.

A mumble of "Ok" and "Good" and "Fine" and one "What?" could be heard from the class.

Tap class was rather uneventful as far as far as anything out of the ordinary. It was still a lot of fun though. They were doing a combination which broke down the travelling time step and made it get harder and harder until it was a full time step, then one with a turn. This was added to the previous week's combination, which was now much easier after a week to figure it out.

During jazz though, that changed. The warm up had been done, and now they were on the floor doing sit ups. All of a sudden laughter broke out on the other side of the room. Allison and Lisa looked at each other and couldn't help joining in, even though neither one knew the source of the laughter.

"I thought that only happened in yoga!" Michele managed to squeeze out between laughing.

Beth was utterly lost. "What, sit ups?"

Michele tried to stop laughing long enough to choke out her next sentence. "No. Farting!"

At this, all attempts at finishing the sit ups anytime soon were forgotten as the entire room was now in fits of laughter.

"Yeah. It was one of those silent but deadly ones over here…" Toni was now on the floor laughing again.

It took a good two minutes before the class calmed down enough to finish the sit ups. They then did planks, and then battements, then continued on with class.

By the end of class, everyone was hot, tired, and laughed out.

Out in the parking lot, Allison turned to Lisa. "Hey, do you want me to talk to House for you? I have gotten used to handling him. I know he would still think of me as either a duckling or an intruder, but I'd be willing to try if it would help you."

"That's really sweet of you Al, but I have to handle him myself. He doesn't listen to me, but if I send someone else it will just make him not listen to you, and also not to me. Which is pretty much what he is doing now, I suppose, but I should handle him by myself. Thank you for offering. I know you have a lot going on right now too."

"Ok, I just thought I'd offer. Have a good night and I hope your week starts to mellow out. I'll see you tomorrow." Without thinking she leaned in and gave Lisa a brief hug. The other woman immediately stiffened, but quickly relaxed and gave her a small hug back.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Lisa walked to her car and got in and just sat. She did not look forward to dealing with House's antics tomorrow. She turned on her car and smiled at the music she had forgotten had been playing from her CD player. It was Enya's album Amarantine. It was not her favourite of Enya's, but it was not bad.

When she reached home, Lisa took a shower and put on a pair of comfortable pajama bottoms and an over sized tee shirt before heading to the kitchen to heat up some ravioli from Sunday night. Taking the now heated bowl into the living room, she turned on the TV and looked through her DVR. There was a new episode of NCIS from that evening waiting for her. Contented, she pressed play and watched. Every few minutes, though, she got distracted and kept thinking back to the encounter in the parking lot. Did she really hug me? Did I really hug her back? What is going on here? I'm not uncomfortable, though. I should be, right? I mean, she works for me. I'm sure it meant nothing. It's not like she's ever been into women before, so it was definitely platonic.

At the end of the show she returned her dishes to the dishwasher in the kitchen and made her way to bed. Exhausted, she drifted off into a deep sleep dreaming of nothing but laughter, dance, and Allison.

**I hope you liked this chapter. Please R&R!**


	3. A Long Day

**A/N: I don't know if anyone has caught on to this yet, but I am trying to create a difference between the use of first and last names. In a relaxed setting such as the studio or at home, first names are used. In the hospital, or in any situation where work is prominent, formal names are used. This is to help to differentiate between the personalities of the characters in their professional versus personal lives. That is why, for instance, I go back and forth between "Cuddy" and "Lisa", or "Allison" and "Cameron". Additionally, even in a more relaxed setting, formal names may be used between two people who do not yet have an established casual relationship yet. I hope it doesn't get too confusing. **

**A/N 2: For anyone who was at all the least bit curious, the photo on Cuddy's desk is actually based on one I have of myself at my first dance recital. I just had to slip it in, it truly is a cute picture! If you go to my profile and go to my facebook web page, you can click on photos and it is posted somewhere on there under dance pics if you are interested in seeing it… Yes, I have actually done this particular morning routine myself, complete with all of the, ahem, problems, that may occur. Having said that, I have begun to write about myself in this chapter. **

**A/N 3: The relationship between Kate (me) and Lisa closely resembles a relationship I had with a very special woman who did many of the things that Cuddy will do with/for her in this story. She has since moved away with her husband and children, but I will never forget her. Years later there are still nights when I cry myself to sleep wishing she were still here. If you are reading this MGL through some odd coincidence, I miss you.**

Lisa Cuddy awoke with a start. She sprang up into a sitting position in her bed. Her heart was racing and she was coated in a layer of sweat. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about but she had the distinct feeling that whatever it was she had been in an intense state of panic/anxiety or fear. She forced herself to try to take deep breaths to calm down. Feeling slightly more relaxed, Lisa looked at the clock on her night table. It read 2:21am. She made her way into the bathroom to splash water on her face to clear her mind of its frenzied state. After calming down sufficiently she made her way back to her bed to attempt to get a few more hours of sleep before it was time to rise and get ready to begin her day. Looking at the clock again she saw it now read 2:25am. After an eternity of tossing and turning she again looked at the clock. 2:29am. 2:34am. 2:38am. She sighed, realising that she would not be getting any more sleep tonight.

Reluctantly, Lisa again climbed out of bed, grabbed her cell phone and pager off of the night table, and made her way to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. After putting the kettle on the stove to heat, she picked out her favourite flavour of tea, Constant Comment, an orange pekoe black tea, and prepared a mug for herself. Taking the steeping beverage into the living room, she made herself comfortable on the sofa under a thick quilt and she flicked on the television and turned the volume down low. Picking a stack of papers off of the corner of the coffee table in front of her, she started to peruse the material. It was not very interesting reading, but it was necessary. Every department head, with the exception of the head of diagnostics (of course House couldn't be bothered with such a mundane yet important task such as paperwork) had turned in a summary of the past quarter's expenditures for her review so that she could accurately distribute the budget for the following quarter. This particular duty needed to be finished by Friday, and today was Thursday.

Cuddy hit the floor hard with her left hip while simultaneously nailing her forehead on the edge of the glass coffee table. "Damn it!" The shrill tones of 'The Hamster Dance' coming from her cell phone alerted her to the fact that her new assistant, Ross, was trying to get a hold of her. She had the worst luck with assistants these past few months. Ross was her ninth one in six months. Nobody seemed to want to put in a full day's work anymore. Of course, a full day for her was usually from seven thirty or eight in the morning until six or seven in the evening. Climbing back onto the sofa she grabbed her phone. "Ross, hey. What's wrong?"

"Dr. Cuddy? Where are you? Is everything ok? You had a meeting scheduled for fifteen minutes ago."

Alarmed, Cuddy squinted at the clock on the DVD player and saw that it was just after nine fifteen. She must have fallen back asleep while doing her budget reviews. "Damn it!" _I should never have turned off my alarm just in case this would happen._ "Please tell Mr. Davis that I will be there as soon as possible and that I am very sorry but I have been detained with an urgent matter. I should be there in about forty five minutes". She was already in the bathroom, half undressed, turning on the shower by the time she was finished that sentence. "Could you just grab him a cup of coffee or something for me please?"

"Sure, Dr. Cuddy, no problem". She instantly ended the call and stepped into the shower. It was by far one of the quickest showers Lisa had ever taken. Stepping out, she wrung out her hair and tried to towel dry it a bit before hastily running a handful of frizz serum through it. Noting the time, she knew she didn't have time to blow dry her hair so she pulled it into a tight bun at the back of her head. It should stay pretty well and hopefully that will help it to dry straight as long as it stayed up like that the entire day. She grimaced and not for the first time, she wished she had perfect hair like many of the doctors she worked with such as Allison and Thirteen. Her frown deepened as she brushed her fingers over the quickly developing bruise where she had hit her head.

Lisa ran through her bedroom pulling out random underwear from the dresser as well as pantyhose, and then an equally random (yet still somehow matching) skirt, blouse, and jacket from her closet before dashing into the living room to grab the papers which had been strewn across the floor upon her unceremonious dismount from the sofa, shoved them into her briefcase, and ran out the door. She jumped into the car and committed possibly more than one traffic violation on her way to the hospital.

Cuddy looked at her watch as she dashed into the small area just outside of her office where Ross sat. She had made it to work in forty one minutes. That was certainly a record for her. Ross cleared his throat. Cuddy looked up and saw him looking at her with a rather quizzical look. "Ross? What's wrong?"

Clearly uncomfortable, he stood up and shifted his weight from foot to foot uneasily for several seconds. "I, uh, I think you may have forgotten something…" His gaze shifted downward. Cuddy's gaze followed.

Immediately her face turned a deep crimson. "Damn it!" This was quickly becoming her mantra of the day. Sure enough, in her haste, she had forgotten nothing other than her shoes. _How could I have possibly managed to make it all the way here and not notice I'm virtually barefoot? _Weighing her options, she made a quick decision. She handed Ross her keys and gave him instructions. "In the trunk of my car there is a small black bag with white writing on it that says Capezio. Could you please grab it and bring it in for me? I have some shoes in there. They are not ideal, but it's better than THIS", she said, gesturing towards her feet.

Her assistant nodded his assent as she straightened her shoulders and walked into her office trying her best to detract the attention from her feet. "Mr. Davis, I'm so sorry for my unexpected delay. Now, about the plans for the winter gala fundraiser…" Cuddy carried this conversation fairly well, seeing as her attention was elsewhere. _This is going to be a long day…_

Just when Cuddy felt that she had absolutely no attention left in her, not even enough to continue to pay just a fraction of her attention to the conversation that she was allegedly in the middle of, she saw that Mr. Davis was standing up and reaching towards her to shake her hand. She finished with the pleasantries as he walked out of her office. She had a vague idea about what the conversation's details consisted of, but to be honest, she didn't really care at this point. Just then her pager went off. She looked down at the offensive object and sighed.

ER: MULTI-VEHICLE COLLISION. 5 MAJORS, 14 MINORS. ETA 10 MIN. –A.C.

Cuddy quickly pulled out a pair of jazz sneakers out of her dance bag which Ross had conveniently brought in for her. She took one look at the brightly coloured sparkly rainbow laces and thought about putting on her jazz gore shoes instead, but thought better of it because she knew she needed the support of the sneakers if she were going to be on her feet for several hours. She then shrugged off her suit jacket and pulled on her lab coat as she rushed from her office to the emergency department to assist with the incoming casualties. As she entered the department she was greeted by House's team, minus the man himself, walking towards her from the opposite direction. _That's right… House doesn't have a case right now. _

"Doctors Chase, Hadley, Taub, Foreman. Thank you for joining us. Let's get to work!" Just then she spotted Dr. Cameron approaching the group from the left side of the department after clearing out a large curtain area and several trauma rooms in preparation for the onslaught. Despite the gravity of the situation, she managed to form a tentative smile as her eyes met those of Dr. Cameron, and she just barely got a fleeting feeling of butterflies when she got a larger one back in response. "Dr. Cameron, this is your ER, so you call the shots. I'm just here to help in any way I can."

"Thank you Dr. Cuddy. Chase, you and Thirteen can work together, and Foreman and Taub, you two can work in trauma four. Dr. Cuddy, you can work with me". Just then the ambulance bay doors shot open as the first of the injured was wheeled in on a gurney by the paramedics. "Let's go!"

As the day wore on, the pairs of doctors were separated as the critical cases were handed off to surgeons and other specialists. They all now had their own cases to deal with as there were many less critical injuries to treat along with the usual complement of emergency department cases.

Eight hours later, and a good four hours after Cameron's shift was supposed to be over, she headed to the lounge to finally rest her legs which she had been on tirelessly for the past ten or so hours. She had plenty of paperwork to fill out and file from the long day, but all of the accident victims were either admitted or discharged at this point. Fortunately, nobody had died. The crowd that one would expect to enter the department on an average day was, thankfully, not very heavy today. She left those patients in the more than capable hands of those members of her staff who were scheduled to be working right now. She pulled the door open with effort and didn't even bother to look around the room. If she had, she would have noticed that many of the doctors and nurses who had been treating the accident victims were now occupying every single piece of furniture which could possibly be used to sit or lean on. Finally lifting her head up she took stock of the room, and would have grown angry except for the extreme fatigue which she knew all of her employees shared. It was her department, after all, what did she have to do to get a freaking chair around here? Choking down a groan, she slowly walked out and made her way to towards the locker room one foot at a time. It was probably for the best she told herself as her scrubs were now dotted with blood samples from more than one donor.

As she was walking, she passed Cuddy's office. She couldn't help but peek in the glass windows from the hallway as she passed. After all, she was still very curious about her boss. At first glance, she thought that the administrator had gone home. The lights in the office were off and there was no movement from within. She wasn't sure what, but something made her decide to stop and really look in. Stepping closer, her eyes went wide. Pushing her own fatigue and discomfort to the side, she quietly opened the door and let herself in.

She walked in and sat down carefully on the sofa so she wouldn't startle the other woman. Cuddy was curled up on the sofa in what very closely resembled a yoga pose. It was child's pose, if Cameron remembered correctly. The only difference was that rather than her arms being stretched out in front of her, they were folded down on either side of her. At some point this afternoon she had changed out of her suit and into a pair of standard pink scrubs which matched those of Cameron's, but she snorted back a chuckle when she noticed the choice of footwear Cuddy was sporting. It was obvious to Cameron that her boss was, in fact, asleep. Not wanting to wake her, she simply sat next to Cuddy and watched her sleep, taking the time to guiltily take in the momentary vulnerability of the older woman with her eyes.

Cameron was just about to drift off herself when she heard a low rumbling emanating from Cuddy's stomach. Realising that she probably had skipped lunch like she herself had, the last time she had eaten was before work this morning, she decided she had to wake Cuddy from her peaceful slumber. Gently modifying her voice into a whisper she kneeled down onto the floor next to Cuddy and spoke. "Dr. Cuddy? I know you are tired, but you really should go home and get something to eat and sleep in a real bed instead of here on your office couch."

It wasn't long before she heard a soft "thank you" escape the administrator's mouth. Cameron pulled away when she sensed that the other woman was trying to drag herself out of her all too brief slumber. "It's been a rough day."

"Yeah, it really has", came the reply. "Really, though, you should get some dinner and rest. I've got to finish up the piles of paperwork from today. I'll see you tomorrow." Cameron got up and left the room and made her way back to her own department.

After several more minutes Cuddy agreed it would be a good idea for her to leave. She reluctantly packed up some of her work and grabbed her bags. Once she reached her car she remembered she had to stop at the grocery store tonight or she would continue to have an empty refrigerator and cabinet. That was not something she was feeling up for. Instead, she decided to stop by the small Greek restaurant about ten minutes from her house. It wasn't the best Greek food she had ever had, but it was good. The restaurant was tucked away in front of an apartment complex off of a main road. You could see it from the main road, but it was not obvious. She continued to ruminate on the topic as she pulled into the small parking lot and stepped out of the car. There was really only one reason she knew this restaurant existed in the first place. She looked down towards the second building on the right and saw that reason standing outside her patio in a tank top and purple pajama pants with her small dog, which she knew was a Shih-Tzu, encouraging him to do his "business".

Lisa was going to just walk in to place her take out order, but Kate looked up and saw her and then waved. Despite her physical and emotional fatigue, she made her way over to Kate. "Lisa! Hey. How are you? You don't look too good, no offense…"

"I'm ok. I just had a very long and difficult day." Lisa knelt down by the dog and started to pet him. "Hey there. You are just as cute as I remember you being. Are you being a good boy for mommy?" Simon lunged at Lisa playfully and started sniffing her, which progressed into furry licks of her face and hands within seconds. This brought a smile to her face. Why didn't she have a dog? Oh, yeah. It was because the poor thing would have to wait through her eleven hour days in order to go out for a walk, and by the time she would get home she is usually so tired that she collapses onto the sofa without a second thought. She looked back up at Kate who seemed to be off in her own little world. "How are you? Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I am just tired. I haven't slept since Tuesday morning is all. I'm just tired. Insomnia or something." Her eyes looked a bit glassy and bloodshot. If Lisa didn't know better she would have thought she might be a bit drunk or possibly high, but she did know better. She reached out to try to see if Kate had a fever of any sort, but Kate backed up. "Hey. I told you I was fine. Really."

Lisa didn't really believe her, but she decided to let it go for now. "If you still haven't fallen asleep tonight by eleven, take 100mg of Diphenhydramine. I usually would say 50mg, but knowing your tolerances, I would go for the 100mg. Please, call me if you need anything, or stop by the clinic. I still care, you know. Please don't forget that." Lisa gave her a reassuring smile. It was true, despite the fact that they rarely, if ever, saw each other outside of a dance setting anymore, she did still care, and she always would. Eight years ago she had met the young woman, then 18 years old, and had immediately become friends with her despite the age difference. The friendship eventually turned into something different as she learned more about Kate. She had been broken. Definitely somebody Allison would have been drawn to, she was sure. She had watched and helped Kate turn her life into something great. She had witnessed the ups and downs as she grew into her own strong self. Now, though, she was worried she was watching the long process being reversed, and she was deeply troubled. "Please? I'm here, no mater what."

"Thanks. I will remember that." Kate and Simon turned around and walked back into the building. Lisa made the quick walk back to the restaurant. She didn't know that Kate was watching her from in between the blinds in front of the sliding door to the patio. "This is my damned mess, not yours. I refuse to drag you into my messed up shit anymore" she whispered to the retreating shadow.

Lisa walked into her house and dropped the food off in the kitchen. She really couldn't decide what she was in the mood for so she ended up getting enough food to last for several days. There was tzaziki and pita, spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, feta cheese, greek salad, and honey yoghurt. She changed out of her scrubs into sweat pants and another big tee shirt and parked herself on her sofa. The weight of her loneliness was suffocating her. It was times like these where she wished that Tess was still here. She would take her rudeness, her refusal to understand her job, her complete lack of respect for her, and even the biting insults which would spout from her mouth any time she was stressed, angry, or drunk, just to have somebody here to just be with. She was never really what you would consider abusive by any means, but she definitely had a side of her that could bring Lisa to hide in the bedroom in tears. No, she decided she didn't want Tess, but she didn't want to be alone either.

Gathering her courage, she picked up her cell and dialed the somewhat unfamiliar number. After three rings she was about to hang up when the phone was answered. "Cameron" came the weary reply.

"Dr. Cameron, Allison, are you still at the hospital?" Pause.

"Yeah… What's House done this time?" Pause.

"Nothing. At least, I hope, but you can never be too sure, can you." Pause. "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No. I was going to head home soon." Pause.

"Would you like to come over for some dinner? I got take out and there is more than plenty for two people." Pause. More quietly, "I could use a friend right now."

Cameron weighed her options. Yes, she was having much trouble focusing on her catch up paperwork. Yes, she was hungry. Yes, she could use a friend after the day she had just had. "Sure. I could use a break. Where do you live?"

"925 West Naylor Street."

"I'll be over soon. Bye."

In less than half an hour Lisa heard her doorbell. She pulled herself up and opened the door, inviting Allison in and leading her to the kitchen to grab a plate of food. Once they were both served, they walked to the living room and took up seats on the sofa using the coffee table as a table. "I forgot about something to drink." Lisa walked over the refrigerator. "I have water, ginger ale, pepsi…"

"I'll take some ginger ale. Thanks."

Back in the living room Lisa gestured towards the television. "Do you want to watch TV while we eat?"

"Sure. What's on?" Lisa handed her the remote and told her to find something she wanted to watch, adding that she had quite a selection on her DVR. That was the first place Allison looked. Scrolling down in the menu she took note of the shows that were listed. There seemed to be a running theme here. CSI, CSI:NY, Bones, NCIS, Rizzoli & Isles, The Closer, In Plain Sight, Covert Affairs, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Enterprise, but the next one caused Allison to laugh hard: Penguins of Madagascar. "Seriously?"

Slightly embarrassed, "I love those cuties. THAT stays in this room though."

"I'm detecting a theme here. You like anything Star Trek and a lot of crime shows."

"Yeah, I used to watch ER when it was on, but watching the repeats just made me feel like I was still at work… Hey, Bones should be new. It's Thursday. Wanna watch?"

"Sure. I've seen a few episodes, but I can't say I have really gotten into it, but that could change." Allison scrolled down and put the show on. For the next forty five minutes she noticed that Lisa was barely paying attention to the show despite the fact that she was the one who had requested they watch it. At the end of the episode Allison spoke. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Wha? Sorry, I'm just distracted I guess."

"After a day like today, I'm not surprised."

"It's not that. I mean, that's part of it, but it's not only that. I saw Kate this evening. There is something going on, but she won't tell me. She used to talk to me. She's closed off. I'm worried."

There was obviously something going on between the two that Allison didn't know about. "She's not just a classmate, is she."

"No, she's not. She has a past. We have a past."

"You two weren't…"

"Oh, goodness no! It's not like that. I'll tell you sometime maybe. Just not tonight. Tonight I want to just relax." She leaned back into the sofa and they put on the new CSI episode from that evening.

After the show was over, Allison decided she was getting tired and offered to clean up. After Lisa refused to allow her to do this, they walked to the door. "See you tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"I will if you will" Allison shot back.

"I will." Lisa opened the door to let the other woman out. "Goodnight".

After she put the uneaten food in the refrigerator and the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, she made her way to the bedroom. After brushing her teeth she crawled into the very inviting bed and immediately fell into sleep.

**Please R&R! I want to know what you think! Yes, the past between Kate and Lisa will come out soon. I'm working on writing it. It will be a very intense flashback chapter, for me, at least.**


	4. Opening Up

**A/N: Ok, so this chapter is more about the Cuddy/Kate relationship than anything else. You may find this boring, but I need to write about it. It's basically my relationship with a few people, but mostly MGL, condensed into the Cuddy personality. All of the medical aspects are true about me though, as is some of the interaction between the characters. If you do find this boring, you can skip it. I won't be offended. If you do read it, please review though! Oh, and the italics in the first half are a phone call, but the italics in the second half are flashbacks. Also, sorry I published about four versions of this. I kept finding more mistakes every time I reread it for the billionth time. Also, yes, I do go by two different names just in case you are wondering. This wasn't just to be confusing...**

Tuesday brought thoughts of a happy evening for Lisa. She had managed to get out of the hospital early and made her way over to the studio. She was the first one there for a change. She sat down in one of the chairs and pulled out some papers from work to read. Next in was Gina. After a few minutes of silence Lisa looked up.

"Gina? You're friends with Kate. Has she said anything to you lately about what's going on with her?"

"Not really. She pulled away during the summer. She never returned my phone calls. All I know is that she's dropped out of school, lost a job, and she's sick with something. I thought you guys were friends."

"Yeah, it sounds like I'm not the only one she's pushing away. I…"

Lisa was cut off by the door being slammed open. In walked the topic of the conversation. In complete contrast to the other day, she was completely in the moment. "Hey guys!" She gave a big smile and sat down in a chair across the room from the others. She then began in on a long one sided conversation that neither of the other women could understand. She was speaking quite fast and nothing made much sense.

Lisa just sat there staring at the younger woman. She was trying her best to project how 'fine' she was, but it was clear she was not. Manic was the very first thing that came to mind. "You're shaking." Kate was doing her best to not show it, but it was obvious. She couldn't even take a breath smoothly. She looked at Kate for another few seconds, thinking about what she knew about her. Taking a stab in the dark, she was guessing hypoglycemia. "When's the last time you ate anything?" The young woman refused to meet her gaze and started playing with one of her many key chains. "This morning?" Lisa got no response. "Yesterday?" This produced a slight nod from the young woman, but Kate still refused to meet her gaze. Lisa wasn't sure, but she thought she could see tears forming in the other woman's eyes. Lisa grabbed her purse and pulled out a cereal bar. "Here. You need this. Please eat it."

"Not gonna happen." Kate emphasizes this with a shake of her head.

"It is if you want to dance tonight."

"Oh really? What are you going to do to stop me? Tattle to Beth and strap me to a chair?"

"I could do that, or I could just bring you over to the hospital and hook you up to a banana bag and a glucose drip." Kate finally met her eyes and the look of fury and horror was unmistakable.

"You can't do that!" Kate was shaking harder now that the thought of control being taken away from her again was becoming real.

"Wanna bet?" Lisa said this with confidence, but she knew that Kate was right. She really couldn't do that, but she would be damned if she was going to lose this battle tonight.

With a sigh, Kate reluctantly stuck out her hand and Lisa placed the snack bar into her palm. While she spent the next ten minutes playing with it and taking occasional bites, the rest of the class filed into the room. Allison took a seat right next to Lisa and spent a few minutes watching the two women. Lisa was staring intently at Kate, and Kate periodically shot daggers at Lisa with her eyes.

"Lisa? What's with Kate?" Allison whispered.

Lisa turned to her and in a hushed voice responded. "I am making her eat a snack. I told her she can't dance unless she does. Threatened her with an IV…" Allison's right eyebrow arched up in question. "Hypoglycemia. She's shaking like a leaf."

Allison blinked. "You know, there are lots of reasons for someone to be shaking."

"I know that, but I also know this is _her_ reason." Allison trusted that Lisa knew what she was doing. She was, after all, a doctor too, and she apparently knew Kate quite well.

Just as Kate was finished, the room opened up and everyone for the tap class went in. Beth was in her usual perky mood and started class with the first warm up, the flap exercise. A split second after they were finished, Kate dashed out of the room with Lisa hot on her heals. Apparently not hot enough, though, because she was met with the bathroom door slamming in her face. Seconds later she hear vomiting coming from the other side of the door. "Kate. Stop it. Let me in."

After a few more seconds, a reply came. "No. Go away."

"Let me in."

"Just leave me alone." She could hear more vomiting.

Lisa made a quick decision. She knew that Kate would be angry, but she had to do something. She walked over to Mary at the desk and asked for the key to open the bathroom. Initially she had refused, but after Lisa convinced her that Kate was sick (she added that she was worried she would pass out), she gave in.

She carefully unlocked the door and opened it just enough to slip in before shutting and locking it again. She found Kate curled up on her side on the floor crying. She knelt down on the floor in front of Kate. She made a move to pull a few strands of hair out of the young woman's mouth, but the motion was cut off abruptly.

"Don't touch me!" She shrieked.

Lisa sighed and pulled her hand back. "Kate, you need to talk to somebody. It doesn't have to be me, but please talk. Maybe you should think about going back."

Confused, Kate questioned her. "Back where?"

"Renfrew. Isn't that were you were two summers ago?"

Understanding finally dawned in Kate. She lifted her head up on her hand and looked at the other woman. "Wait, you think I did that on purpose?"

Surprised by the response, Lisa crinkled her brow in concern. "You didn't?"

"No. You and I both know that's not my style. I may do a lot of dumb things with my health, eating in particular, but that's not one of them."

"Sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. What is the problem?"

Kate thought for a moment. "I have no idea. Do you?"

Lisa started thinking. "When did this start?"

"About threeish months ago."

"Did you have any tests done?"

"Yeah. My basic blood panels came back ok. No obvious infection or liver problems. Upper endoscopy showed some redness and inflammation of the stomach lining, but biopsies were fine."

Lisa continued thinking. Diagnostics was not her specialty, but for Kate, she would try. No ulcerations meant it wasn't a flare of the Crohn's Disease. Redness and inflammation were normal for somebody vomiting as frequently as she had probably been. Hypoglycemia was normal for somebody who has been eating as infrequently as she had been. Mood swings could be a result of either of the two other symptoms. There is one thing that could explain all three, along with a multitude of other symptoms she may or may not be having. "Knowing you, I'm fairly certain not, but I have to ask. Is there any chance you could-"

"Don't even go there. Despite the fact that I never have been, nor will ever be, with a man, do you really think that isn't the first thing every doctor has tested for? Besides, aside from you I'm the last woman on this planet who would actually be pregnant."

In the blink of an eye Lisa was pulling the door open. She turned around just long enough to say one last thing, a combination of concern and venom in her voice. "I don't know what it is, but I know you well enough to know that from what you just said there is something seriously wrong." She left the bathroom door ajar and hurried into the studio. "I have to go," she said to nobody in particular. She collected her bags and practically ran down the steps to her car. As she got in, the tears started streaming down her face. They didn't stop.

Nearly an hour later, tap class was over. During the break before jazz, Allison checked her cell and her pager to see if she had been called too. It was her night off, but if there was something wrong at the hospital, she might be needed, so she decided to call.

"_ER"_

"It's Dr. Cameron. Is everything alright?"

"_Yes, why do you ask?"_

"I was with Dr. Cuddy when she got called in. I was just wondering if you needed me too."

"_We didn't call Dr. Cuddy. As far as I know, she's not here."_

"Oh. Sorry to have bothered you. Thanks." Allison hung up and dialed Lisa's cell. There was not answer so she decided to try her home number. Still there was no answer. Now she was getting concerned.

She put her street shoes back on and gathered her bags. "I have to go Beth, I missed a page earlier. Lisa must not have realised they needed both of us when she left." She was lying, but nobody would know the difference. "See you next week."

A little over twenty minutes later, Allison was standing in front of Lisa's front door. After several minutes of knocking, the door opened to reveal a completely defeated woman. She was still in her dance attire, but her face was soaked with tears and her eyes were blood shot and red and puffy from crying. "What are you doing here?"

From that one sentence, Allison could tell that she had been drinking, and heavily at that. She knew first hand how well the older woman could hold her liquor. "I got worried. Can I come in?"

Lisa opened the door wider and gestured toward the inside of the house. Allison took a few steps in and watched as Lisa closed the door and started to make her way back to the sofa. Allison was quickly at her side and grabbed her arm as she turned around and tripped over her own feet. Together they made their way to the living room and sat down. Allison took a breath and decided she should try to get her friend to open up. "What happened tonight?"

"I can't believe she said that. I just really can't believe she would say something like that." Lisa started crying again and pulled a pillow onto her lap.

"Kate? What did she say that could have upset you so badly?" Allison had never seen the other woman this upset ever.

"We used to talk about everything. We both knew things about the other that nobody else knew. It was like, instead of writing in a diary, we would just talk to each other. We were so in tune with each other. I remember this one time, Tess and I were at the mall, and we ran into her. I'm not kidding when I tell you that she and I were wearing the exact same outfit. It was scary." The new tears were starting to fade just a little bit.

"What did she say to you?" Allison repeated the question. She wasn't sure if Lisa had been deflecting, or just taking a while to get to the point, but it did seem like she wanted to talk.

"She told me I was the least likely person on the planet who would be pregnant." The tears came flooding back.

"Lisa, I understanding that is insulting, but I still don't understand why you are so upset."

After blowing her nose into the pillow, which Allison found to be a little more than slightly revolting (she made a mental note to remind her to wash that later), Lisa continued to talk. "Only a handful of people knew. She was one of them."

That didn't answer a damned thing as far as Allison was concerned. "Knew what?"

"A few years ago, before… I tried to adopt… I tried to have a baby. I had three IVF cycles. The first two never took, the third I lost before the end of my first trimester." She had fumbled her way through those sentences. It was clear to both women that she still couldn't speak Joy's name without evoking more hard memories.

Allison didn't have a clue as to what to say. "I'm sorry" just didn't seem right, but she said it anyway for lack of anything better. She decided to try to change the subject to something a little less difficult to talk about. "So, you and Kate go way back. How did you become friends?"

Lisa leaned back into the corner of the sofa and began to tell the story.

_

* * *

_

This was the second year that Kate had been taking dance classes with the adults. It was obvious that she was sick, though. It was October, and since the studio had started back the month before, she had not been dancing very much. The two were not close, but they got along well enough. Lisa was getting ready to leave one night when she was stopped.

"_Lisa? Can I ask you something?" She turned around to see Kate standing behind her._

"_Sure, what's up?"_

"_I know this is going to sound weird, but I need to know. I mean, I could have asked my surgeon, but I thought you might be able to explain to me better than someone who doesn't even introduce himself until after he's shoved a scope up my ass and told me I needed to have surgery…" _

_This information piqued her curiosity. "Surgery for what?"_

"_I have Crohn's. I was diagnosed when I was twelve. I've had a few flares since then, but this one I've got now is the worst and we can't get it to go away. I'm scheduled for a complete colectomy, creation of a j-pouch, and a temporary ostomy in December. I am scared. I really just need to talk to somebody who knows what will happen." If she had needed any confirmation, the look in the young woman's eyes said everything. _

"_Wow. Ok. Do you want to meet tomorrow?"_

"_Sure. I am going to try to go to classes in the morning, but I will be done by 2."_

"_Come on over to the hospital after you are done. My office is in the clinic on the ground floor. We can get some coffee or something." _

_The young woman smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you then."_

_

* * *

_

_Three weeks later Kate missed dance. She never missed dance, so Lisa decided to call her. _

"_Hello?"_

"_Kate. Hey. It's Lisa. We missed you tonight. Are you ok?"_

_There was a pause on the other end of the phone and then she heard the other woman trying to take a few deep breaths. "No."_

"_What's going on?"_

"_I was admitted on Friday. I saw my doctor and he did some labs. I was really anemic. I had a transfusion on Friday and another one today. They changed my surgery to critical. It's going to happen Thursday." After she said this, a full explosion of tears could be heard. "Lisa, I'm so scared. I can't even think anymore. I can't stop shaking. I can't stop crying. My dad, he is trying so hard to help, but I can tell he just doesn't know how. I can't call my mom. She'd spend the whole time telling me this is all my fault. She would tell blame me for it. Then she would try to convince me I was just doing this for attention, or to make her life miserable or something. I have nobody to talk to about this. I'm freaking out!" _

_Lisa could hear Kate doing her best to breathe through the harsh sobs. Freaking out didn't begin to describe what was going on here. "Where are you?"_

"_I'm at Lankenau hospital where most of my doctors are. It's near my dad's house, where I used to live. It's outside of Philadelphia. Hold on a sec." Lisa could hear there was someone in the room talking to Kate, but she couldn't make out what was being said. "I'm back. Apparently the doctor ordered some sort of meds for me that I didn't know about. She had to put them in my IV. I'm really scared. Please tell me it will all be fine."_

"_It will be fine soon." Lisa thought for a second. "Do you want me to be there?" _

"_You don't have to…"_

"_I will be there. I'll come tomorrow night."_

"_Seerriouslly, you dooon't haaave tooooo. Whaat the helllll was in thaaaat stuffffff?"_

"_Do you know what it was called? Lisa asked._

"_Dunnnno. Attttisommething."_

_Ativan. "Listen to me. Put your phone on the table, then close your eyes and go to sleep. I will be there tomorrow night."_

"_Thaaaankssssssss"_

_

* * *

_

It had taken Lisa twenty minutes to get the clerk at the front desk to give her Kate's room number. It wasn't that he wouldn't, he actually couldn't. She was not there according to him. Exasperated, she made him look up her last name and date of admittance. That worked. The reason he couldn't find her in the computer was that her first name wasn't actually Kate, it was Jennifer. The elevator let her off on the fourth floor. She was stopped again at the nurse's station. Non-familial visitors were not allowed up at this time of night. It was just after nine. She showed them her own hospital badge and, lying, told them she was her doctor in Princeton. House was right. Everybody lies. As she walked into the room, a man was walking out. He was obviously her dad. "Hi. I'm Lisa Cuddy. You're Ka-Jenn's dad?"

_He looked at her and gave her a small smile. "Yes. I'm Ryan, her dad. You were going to say Kate, so you must be a friend."_

"_Yeah. How is she?"_

"_She's really stressed. She is finally getting some sleep though."_

"_Is she sleeping or sedated?"_

"_She's sleeping, mostly. They gave her a very mild dose of Ativan. She needs to be able to get up and use the bathroom. She's having surgery tomorrow and they need to prepare her intestines."_

"_I know that prep can be rough." She had never had that kind of preparation before, but she knew well what it entailed and how much stress it can be._

"_I don't mean to be rude, but how did you get in? They only let family in at this hour."_

"_I flashed my badge and told them I was her doctor in New Jersey." She smiled. "I'm the dean of medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro. That title tends to carry a little weight wherever I go."_

"_Impressive. How do you know my daughter?"_

"_We're in the same dance classes. You seem tired. I was planning on staying out here, but if you want to go home and get some rest, I don't mind staying with her in the room with her. I can call you if anything comes up." Lisa made the offer out of genuine concern for the man. _

"_That actually sounds good. I don't want her to wake up during the night with nobody there, but if you're here… I really could use some rest. She's going in at 6:30 tomorrow morning. I guess I could go home for a bit and come back around 5. Thank you."_

"_No problem. I will see you tomorrow morning."_

_Lisa sat down in the chair next to Kate's bed and it wasn't long before she dozed off herself. _

_Lisa woke up to hear crying coming from the bathroom. She looked at the bed and saw it had been vacated. The IV pump was still plugged in, but moved as far from the outlet towards the bathroom as possible, and the IV tubing was being tugged around the corner. She got up and unplugged the machine and brought it over to the mostly closed door. She was trying to give the young woman her privacy, but she wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. "Kate? Do you need anything?"_

_The crying stopped abruptly. Kate immediately felt the tugging from the IV tubing lessen considerably. "Lisa? Why… what are you doing here?"_

"_You don't remember our phone conversation last night?" She had a feeling that she wouldn't because of the medication._

"_Obviously not." Kate chuckled._

"_I'm not surprised. They dosed you pretty well with a sedative half way through."_

"_Shit. I didn't say anything inappropriate, did I?"_

_Lisa wondered what she was thinking about that would be inappropriate, but decided to let it go. "Nope. You just told me you were really scared and I told you I would come." Lisa heard movement, a flush, and Kate wash her hands before the door opened fully. They walked back to the other side of the room. Kate got back into bed and sat in a butterfly position with her chest against her feet. "Are you in pain?"_

"_Yeah, it's just the regular pains. Not much I can do about them."_

"_I'll be right back." A few minutes later, Lisa returned with a hot, damp towel wrapped in plastic. "Try this. It might help."_

"_Thanks." Kate leaned back against the pillow and placed the makeshift heating pad across her abdomen. "Where's my dad?"_

"_I told him to go home and get some rest. I said I would stay here and call him if you needed anything."_

"_Thanks. He needed that." And I needed a break from him she thought, but didn't say aloud._

"_So, it's Jenn, huh? Why do we all call you Kate?" _

"_Ugh. How did you find out? Ok, dumb question. You found out because you actually found me. It's really a long story. I'll tell you sometime."_

_Neither got any more sleep that night. Lisa spent hours trying to keep the other woman's mind off of her impending surgery. They talked about nothing and everything, and even tried playing some mind games to pass the time. _

_Just like clockwork, at 5am Kate's dad walked into the room. Lisa excused herself and went to fetch some coffee. About an hour later, the young woman was brought to surgery. Lisa sat in the surgical waiting area with Ryan. After almost six hours, he started to get concerned. "Does it usually take this long? They said it would be a long surgery, but I didn't expect it to be like this."_

"_I can't say I've ever performed this particular surgery, I'm not a surgeon, but I can see if I can get a status update." Lisa walked over to the nurse's station and more or less demanded that somebody get an update from the OR. What she heard was not alarming, but not great news either. She sat down again next to Ryan. "She got tachycardia, her heart was beating abnormally fast, so they stopped for a little while to let her body rest. They are working on her again now. She should be done in a few hours."_

"_Is that serious?" He was, understandably, very worried._

"_She's ok. There are plenty of people in there if something serious does happen. She'll be fine."_

_Several hours later, Kate was brought to her own room in the cardiac ICU. The nurses had moved in a cot for her father to sleep on next to the bed. Lisa made sure both of them were ok before going back to the lounge to get some sleep herself._

_Kate spent most of the next day more or less unconscious. When she finally woke up, they would find out that not everything was in perfect order._

* * *

Lisa had been barely coherent for the past five minutes, so Allison decided that it was time for her to move to the bedroom. "Lisa? You need to get some sleep. I don't want you passing out here on the couch."

"Mmh. There's a lot more to this story."

"You can tell me tomorrow. Now go to bed."

"Good idea. I will see you tomorrow at work. You can let yourself out." Lisa got up unsteadily from the sofa before basically falling back down where she had been sitting.

"You can't even make it to your room by yourself. I'm staying here and making sure you are going to be ok." They both got up and Allison made sure she had made it to the bedroom before going back down the hall to the living room. She pulled the quilt off the back of the couch and soon fell asleep.

* * *

**Please let me know how you liked it! I promise more Cuddy/Cameron will come soon!**


	5. A Day Off

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay. This chapter is a lot longer than the others, so hopefully it will make up for it. Don't give up! I promise that even thought it is a slow development right now, Cuddy/Cameron IS coming. Remember, Cuddy just went through a bad breakup after a long term relationship, and Cameron is still trying to figure out her feelings. More exploration of the back story of Cuddy and Kate in this chapter too.**

Several loud thuds coming from the bedroom woke Allison from her light sleep. After a moment she made out the sounds of puking coming from the bathroom. She dragged herself off of the sofa and made her way to the kitchen. After filling a glass with room temperature water, she shuffled around until she found a bottle of Motrin in a drawer. She pulled out two and walked with the pills and the water through the bedroom into the bathroom. Lisa was resting her head on the edge of the toilet mumbling to herself. "Hangovers are bitches, aren't they? Trust me, I've had my share."

Lisa tried to move but suddenly lost another battle with her unhappy stomach. When she was done for the moment she looked up. "I can't recall having one this bad since college… You didn't by any chance hit me over the head several times with an anvil last night, did you?"

Allison let out a little laugh. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but yeah, I did. Here, I brought you this to try to make up for it though." She handed over the medicine and the water and then pulled a washcloth out of the cabinet and dampened it.

"Thanks. I don't know how I'm going to get through the morning today. It will take House months to get over this kind of never-live-it-down day." This time both women laughed.

"You could call out." Alison suggested.

"I never call out."

"Do you really think you'll be in any condition to get any work done the way you are feeling?"

"No. You're right. I can't remember where I left my phone though. I can't use yours. They will see the caller ID. If I use the home line Ross will find out that number, and that is not something I want." Lisa thought hard, trying to remember ANYTHING from last night after she got home. "It could be under the coffee table, or maybe in the kitchen."

"I'll go look for it. I'll be back."

Allison went to the living room and looked around. It was nowhere to be seen. She made her way to the kitchen and looked around. Still no phone. She started opening drawers and cabinets and she even checked inside the refrigerator and freezer. She was heading back to the living room to search again and passed the trash can where something shiny caught her eye. Bingo. She headed back to the bathroom but found Lisa lying on the bed with the washcloth on her forehead instead.

"I found it."

"Thanks. Where was it?"

"Kitchen trash. Somebody call who you didn't want to talk to last night?"

"Let's find out." Lisa pulled up the missed call log and laughed. "It was you." They both laughed, then Lisa winced with another shot of pain through her skull.

"Sorry. I was worried." Lisa rolled her eyes as Allison turned a moderate shade of crimson.

"Thank you. I was a bit upset last night I suppose."

"Wow, if that's you a bit upset, I do not want to know what really upset looks like." Allison was just trying to imagine a more upset Lisa, but she failed. "Call your assistant. I'll be back in a few minutes." Allison walked out of the room and back towards the living room. Five minutes later, she walked back into the bedroom.

"You know, if you are going to be at work on time, you need to get going." Lisa really still didn't feel like being alone, but she was much better than she had been the previous night.

"I'm off today." Allison shot back with a grin.

Lisa scoffed at her. "No you're not!"

"Yes I am." She argued. "It's an advantage of being boss."

"It could be, but an advantage of being the boss's boss is knowing when your department heads are scheduled to be working." Counter attack.

"Wagner owed me a favour. He's covering today. I'm off. See?" She flashed a wide Cheshire cat style grin.

"Ok, you win I guess." Lisa got up from the bed and walked to the living room. She had to admit, she was starting to feel a tiny bit better already. "Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure, I suppose."

Lisa gestured to the shelves next to the television. "Pick anything you want to watch. I'm gonna freshen up a little and make some coffee. Do you want some?"

"Sure. Hey, are these organised in any particular way by any chance?" She honestly couldn't figure out what she was looking at.

"Of course they are. It's categorically." Lisa, in the other room, had no idea why Allison couldn't tell just by looking.

"If this is how your brain organises things, remind me never to let you file my paperwork!" A huge laugh was heard from the other room. She was never going to figure out the system. She could see a wide variety boxed sets of various television series, there were the sci-fi/fantasies, the cartoons, romances, dramas, and comedies, and then a pile of DVD's on the floor next to the last shelf. "You certainly have quite a collection here!"

"Yeah, I do." Lisa walked in carrying two mugs filled with steaming coffee. "What did you pick?"

Allison held up the DVD of "Best In Show". "This movie always makes me laugh. Seriously, though. How the hell do you organise those things?"

"What are you talking about? Everything is listed alphabetically by the first name of the main actor or actress that I think is the best. It's simple." She stated this as a plain fact of life.

"How on earth is that simple? It'd be easier to find it all if it were just lying in a heap on the floor." Lisa was now very confused, but she put the movie in and they watched while drinking their coffee. After a short while, they were both reclining on the sofa with their feet propped up on the coffee table. Lisa then made a move to reach for the side pillow that had been lying on the floor to lean on. Allison saw this and quickly spoke up. "You don't want to do that." She was met with a pair of very inquisitive piercing blue eyes. "Last night, you, uh, well, you blew your nose into it about three times…"

The other woman made a face of disgust and dropped it back onto the floor. "I can't believe I did that!"

"Honestly? I couldn't either. If I hadn't seen it myself, I would never have believed it. Hold on." Allison walked over to where her bag was sitting and pulled out one of the rubber gloves she kept in there just in case. "Always good in emergencies." She slipped it on and picked up the distasteful object. "Laundry?" she prompted.

"Through the kitchen. Thanks." The reply came with a humoured laugh.

Allison found it easily enough. She placed the pillow on top of the washing machine and turned around when something colourful tucked between the dryer and the wall caught her eye. She curiously picked it up and took a look. It was a hand drawn piece about 1.5ft X 2ft done in what looked like oil pastels. It was quite good. It was of Lisa and another woman. They were sitting on a blanket underneath a tree in what looked like a park. They both looked like they were laughing at something. The other woman was quite pretty. She had long, curly, deep red hair. Not the same kind of curly as Lisa's. Hers was more large rings. She had blazing green eyes. She looked towards the bottom and found some writing. _To Lisa and Tess- Never stop laughing. Kate. _So this was Tess. Now if she ever saw her on the street she would recognise her and know she was who she wanted to damage. But wait, Kate? Kate, Kate? As in short, purple haired, Crash Kate? Kate who had caused her friend so much pain the night before? She placed the picture back in its spot and left the room to head back out to the living room. She was now in a rather somber mood.

Lisa could tell immediately that something was bothering her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," was the reply accompanied by a forced smile as she sat back down on the sofa.

She forced her mind to think about all of the things that could be hiding in that room. Surely a basketful of dirty laundry wouldn't put the other woman off THAT much. Ok, the utility sink was pretty scummy, but again, not really upsetting in any way. Then it hit her like a wall. "You saw it, didn't you." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

A brief nod was the only reply.

"I can't bear to look at it, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it either." Suddenly her headache seemed to be back full force. She raised her hand to her head to try to will it away. "Kate created it from a photo that she took."

"She's pretty good."

"Yeah. She disagrees though. She enjoys doing it, but feels inferior. Apparently her…" she hesitated to bring the next thought into her already aching head, "…her mother and sister are really good. She considers herself more of a musician and a dancer. Her choreography isn't bad, but you should hear some of her music. Mostly she covers stuff, but she's written a few things. I'll be right back." She left the room and quickly returned with her laptop. She pulled up her iTunes library and when she found a song she liked, she hit play.

Allison immediately recognized the song. It was The Memory of Trees by Enya. But it was different. After sitting there in stunned silence throughout the entire piece she finally found her voice. "Wow. I don't know what to say."

She turned to the other woman who had a far off look in her eyes when she spoke. "We were in my car driving to the theatre for the dress rehearsal for our upcoming dance show. Watermark was playing from my speakers. She said it was great and she had never heard anything like it before. I confessed that she was one of my favourites, and that I found the music extremely soothing. I didn't see Kate at all that summer. She was working teaching music at a camp up in Connecticut. The first week back at dance she handed me a CD with a big smile. She had recorded twenty of her favourite Enya pieces along with three of her own. She learned them for me. It was… sweet."

Allison knew she was probing into possible banned territory here, but she was just too curious to let it go. At least she insisted to herself that it was curiosity and not some emotion such as jealousy. "In the picture, you look so happy. What was so funny?"

Lisa smiled at the happy memory. "It was the day of the dance recital about five years ago. We have two shows, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You'll find that out soon. Between shows we have time to do whatever we want. Most of us went to a local café and got some lunch to take to the park so we could have a picnic."

"So Tess danced too?"

"Oh, absolutely not. She thought it was something that only little girls should do. We brought our families along, those of us who had them with us. Kate brought her camera. We were all relaxing and Michele starts telling us a story from earlier that week. She teaches art at a local high school. In her classroom, she had a wide variety of music on her computer and when students come in for class they can create a play list to listen to. At one point Dueling Banjos came on. Two of her students got up and started dancing around using t-squares as banjos. She got up at that point to show us exactly how it was done. Anyway, after taking several pictures of that display, Kate must have turned and seen us laughing and took another one. A few weeks later that drawing was lying on the desk in my office"

"That was thoughtful."

"Yeah. She always manages to think of those little kinds of things. She once told me it was her little way of saying 'thank you for putting up with me'."

"I feel like I could make a joke about something here, but I really can't think of one," Allison deadpanned.

Lisa just laughed and just then Allison saw something that she never had even thought of. As the other woman's hair was falling behind her, she saw that she had something that was not expected. In fact, it was downright earth shattering. What she saw was that in her right ear she had exactly three piercings. One in the lobe and two in the cartilage. "Wow, I had no idea you were such a wild woman," she said.

"What do you mean?" Lisa was totally baffled by the comment.

"Well, you've got some nice bling... I count three in your right ear…"

"And two in my left. Yeah, I'm 'PartyPants' for a reason!" Allison was stunned.

"What do you do at work?" It wasn't the real thing that Allison wanted to say, but it was the only thing that came to mind at the moment.

"I take out the studs and wear some good dangling earrings. They won't close unless I go a while without wearing them."

"I like it." She hadn't meant verbalise that at all. She turned slightly red her comment.

"Thanks!" Lisa laughed again and they continued to watch the movie. Twenty minutes later her cell phone rang. It was the tone used for callers who were not on her familiar ring list.

She answered reluctantly. "Hello?" All of a sudden her demeanor changed. It was as if the Fates themselves had heard the conversation. "What the hell do you want?... No! Fist of all, this is not OUR house, it is MY house. It was MY house before you moved in, and it is MY house now that you moved out. YOU never contributed a penny towards it… I don't care that you're going to be in town, you're not going to stay here… I'm not hiding anything. You're the cheating bitch here." She couldn't believe that she had used that language in a conversation. "Seriously? You think that? Well you're wrong… If you are in town you need to stay somewhere else, especially if you are both here. I don't care where… It's not going to be here. You left, you're not coming back… Well I've finally learned how to. I'm saying no to you now and that's my final response. I'm done. That's it. Goodbye." She hung up the phone abruptly.

"Sorry you had to hear that. It's the first time I've talked to her since June." Lisa looked as if she was going to cry. "I just, I don't know. She just really gets to me. At some point I realised how horrible she could be, but for some reason I feel horrible about giving that attitude back to her. I just… I don't know. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to hear that."

Allison looked at her with encouragement. "Hey. Stop that. You didn't do anything wrong. You stood up for yourself to someone who took advantage of you. That does not make you a bad person. It shows that you care enough about yourself to make sure you don't get hurt again." At that point the other woman started to cry. She reached over to her and placed a comforting hand on her arm. Lisa leaned in and cried into her shoulder. She really did enjoy the feeling of holding her and comforting her, even if it was because of something so troubling. "You need to look out for you. At work all you do is make sure everything and everyone at the hospital is going well. At home, you were doing the same for her. I know I'm not one to talk, but it's time you started doing what you need to do for yourself. You've already started. It'll be ok."

Lisa's tears started to decrease dramatically. "Thank you. Just hearing that said seems to help." She pulled away from Allison and tried to rid her face of the tears. "I'm sorry."

"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

Lisa looked up at her, startled. "Sorry Gibbs. Won't happen again." Allison smiled and Lisa let a small laugh out at the reference. It became quite clear that her nose was now clogged from the crying.

"Do you want me to go get your snot pillow?"

The statement brought another small smile to Lisa's face. "I think I'll go for a tissue this time, but thanks." They both smiled. She suddenly realised that she was rather hungry. "Can I make you lunch? I was thinking of making something for myself," she offered.

"I can do it if you want."

"No, it's fine. It'll calm me to do it. What do you like? I know you usually have a turkey sandwich, but I don't have any of that. I'm sorry. I used to keep stuff like that around for her, but there hasn't been a need to do that lately."

Allison was floored that she knew her usual lunch order but tried not to show it. "I'll have whatever you want to make." They moved the conversation into the kitchen while Lisa started to pull items out of the refrigerator and cabinets. The lunch ended up being toasted mozzarella paninis with a basil pesto. It was amazing. "I had no idea that you could cook like this, especially off a whim! This is amazing."

"Thanks. Actually, cooking is a hobby of mine. I've always loved it since I was little. Like I said, I find it calming." Lisa smiled and tucked her hair into a ponytail. "Hey, it's really nice out. Would you like to go take a walk?"

Allison didn't have to think twice. "Sure, that would be great," she said with a reciprocating smile.

They walked down the trail in the park. Eventually they found themselves seated on two adjacent swings in a children's area. Allison broke the pleasant calmness. "Last night you were telling me about Kate. You talked about how there were complications. You were there?"

"Yeah. I was there," Lisa said with a sad tone.

* * *

_It was Saturday morning. Kate woke up to her dad on her right and Lisa on her left. Her dad was completely speechless, so Lisa decided to take the lead. "Hey you. Are you up to having some breakfast?"_

"_No. I can't sit up. I hurt too much. Last night I was awake. I know dad was too. I kept waking up trying to turn over. I remember him helping me turn over. I can't even move when I'm on my right side. I just can't do it." Kate started crying._

"_I know. It's going to hurt for a bit but then it will feel better. I promise it will feel better. Can we help you?"_

"_No. I don't want to." Kate was completely adamant on this topic. Lisa looked over at Ryan and he knew what she was thinking at that moment. The both of them took a side of the young woman and lifted her up and propped her against the pillows. "No! Stop!" She just barely got the words out between heavy breaths. _

"_You have to start to eat and drink in order for them to let you come home," Ryan supplied. _

_Just then a nurse came in to check because the heart monitors had gone haywire at the nurse's station. "What's going on in here? What did she do?" _

"_No problem," Lisa assured her. "We just got her to sit up." The nurse didn't look convinced. "I'm a doctor. I know when there is a problem" she stated annoyed. The nurse looked thoroughly unconvinced. "If you don't believe me about my credentials, go ask at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey and ask about a Dr. Lisa Cuddy, who happens to be the Dean of Medicine. If you still don't believe me, ask for my ID photo," she said curtly. The nurse left the room, still unconvinced, but Lisa knew that if she actually searched for the information, it would all lead to the truth. _

_Kate began to eat the eggs that were on here plate. She stopped after a few mouthfuls. "I'm sorry, I really don't feel well." It was put off to the fact that she had been through major surgery the day before. She had refused to ingest anything else that day though, but that was also contributed to the surgery. _

_The next day around eight in the morning Kate spoke. "I'm gonna pu…" Before she could finish the sentence she had vomited all over Lisa's lap. _

"_It's ok. You can feel like this," she said reassuringly. She knew this was not normal. Normally people recovered from this kind of surgery well. This surgery, while almost normal, mostly except for the time it took… This wasn't normal. This looked worse than she had seen, seen her eat the day before. It was completely undigested and coming back up a day later. The vomit consisted of yesterday's breakfast, completely undigested. This was bad news. She immediately paged the nurses. She ignored the state of the vomit on her pants mostly out of normalcy, not apathy._

_As a nurse came in a few seconds later Lisa explained. "I'm pretty sure she's got Gastro-Intestinal Stasis. I need to talk to her doctor. Now!" _

_Two hours later Kate had a suction NG tube (it was a lot wider than the other kind) in her along with a brand new PIC line to give her TPN and was now asleep. When she woke up her dad was sitting beside her. "Feeling any better?"_

"_Worse. I'm sorry." Kate started crying._

_Lisa didn't want to do what she had to do next. "Hey. I have to go home. I still have a hospital to run apparently. I promise I will be back. I will come on Friday whether you are here or not. Ok? I put all of my phone numbers into your cell for you. You've got my cell, pager, and home. Call me anytime if you need anything or just want to talk."_

_Kate turned her head and nodded. Nobody noticed the tears in her eyes._

* * *

_Lisa was in the middle of writing a proposal for an addition to the oncology lab Wednesday when her cell rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Kate. "Kate? How are you today?"_

"_It's me." It was not Kate, it was her dad. He sounded very serious._

"_What happened?" she asked concerned._

"_She's been acting weird today. I came and visited her this morning before work and she was sleeping and was fine. I came back and she was just staring at the TV as if she were watching it, but it wasn't on. She didn't notice I came in even. It was two hours later that she stopped doing that and noticed that I had arrived. Everything she has said since then doesn't make sense. She's talking about how her dog can fly and contemplating the uses of duck tape. Did her brain get messed up or something?" He was genuinely worried._

"_Did they change any of her meds?"_

"_Yeah, they stopped the morphine drip and started her on a dilaudid pump. They said it would help the pain better." Lisa couldn't help laughing. "I'm sorry, but I'm really not finding the humour in this situation."_

"_I take it she's not much of a partier?"_

"_Not that I know of, but I don't see the relevance," he responded not comprehending._

"_Be thankful that this is the only time your daughter has been completely stoned, as far as you and I know. In this case, it's not bad, it's just a side effect of the pain management. Believe me, I've seen bad. There is one doctor in my hospital who pops vicodin like you wouldn't believe. Usually it's just for pain management, but sometimes, even I can't imagine where he comes up with some of his stuff. Just let her sleep, talk, whatever she needs to do. Are you ok?"_

"_Yeah, I'm good. It is hard to manage working and being here and everything, but my fiancée is coming to town Friday and she wants to help out a bit. She and Jenn are a little distant, at best, but it will still help."_

"_I'm coming Friday afternoon too, if that's ok with you."_

"_Of course. She'd like that. That is, if she can actually notice that there is someone else in the room…"_

_Lisa laughed and they ended the call._

* * *

_She had managed to get away from the hospital earlier Friday than she usually could. She had arrived at Kate's hospital around four. As she walked down the corridor towards her room, she could hear crying. Not just crying, but almost like howls. It was unmistakably Kate's crying. She ran the rest of the way to the room. When she arrived she found the young woman in a mess. Her face was completely flushed and she was crying hysterically. Lisa could tell that she was in an immense amount of pain. This long after the surgery she shouldn't be hurting worse than she had been before. It didn't make sense. "Talk to me. What hurts? Is it your abdomen?"_

_Through clenched teeth Kate responded. "My arm."_

_Lisa took a look at her arm. The PIC line seemed to look ok and the other IV line wasn't infiltrating. There was no reason for her to be in this much pain from the very basic examination. She looked up to the IV pumps. She saw the TPN and then she saw the other bag. It was potassium. "Damn. I'm going to stop this right now and get your doctor. The pain will stop almost instantly. I promise." She pushed a few buttons on the machine and watched as relief washed over her friend's face. "Better?"_

"_Yeah. Thanks. Do you remember this one episode of Voyager where they had a Kazon prisoner on board? How he took a little metal thingy out from underneath his nail and injected it into a vein in his arm and then you saw a fire ball move up his arm from the inside and he exploded taking half the deck with him? THAT is what that stuff feels like. Not kidding."_

_Lisa nodded. "Yeah, I remember that one. Was that the same one where Seska had Chakotay captive?" They both knew it was not important, but she was just trying to make some conversation. _

"_Honestly? I don't remember…"_

"_I'm going to go get someone to contact your doctor. I'll be back soon."_

_Lisa walked down the hall to the nurse's station. "Excuse me. The patient, Jennifer Kramer, she's not handling the K-rider well. I would like to know if her doctor could modify the orders. Is there any way for you to contact him?"_

"_Sure. We'll contact him for your daughter." The nurse had probably just assumed._

"_She's not- never mind." Lisa was about to correct the mistake but instantly thought better of it. If they knew she was not family they may just ignore her altogether. Not the best thing for Kate. _

"_Can I get your name?"_

"_Lisa Cuddy." With that, she headed back into Kate's room. The two started talking about the latest developments at the dance studio. Kate was alarmed to hear that they had begun work on the recital pieces in both classes. Lisa reassured her that they are leaving spots for her and that she would personally help her catch up when she got back. After about twenty minutes, they were interrupted. _

_The doctor walked into the room exuding an air of superiority. He ignored Kate altogether and walked to the other side of the bed where Lisa sat. He extended his hand to her and she stood up to take it. "Dr. Christopher."_

"_Hi. I'm-"_

"_I already know your name." Wow, that was rude._

"_I'm not complaining, but it's highly unusual for busy surgeons to come running to patient rooms for something like this." She honestly didn't know what to make of the man._

"_Are you kidding? I heard Princeton's finest Dean was with my patient! I just had to see for myself."_

"_Oooook. I had no idea I had such a reputation."_

"_You don't know the half of it." Now she was completely baffled. He walked up to the pumps and turned around. "You stopped it."_

"_I did. She's on a dilaudid pump and she was practically screaming for her life when I came in. I was hoping you could at least slow it down and let it run in overnight instead."_

"_You want to risk a heart attack by slowing it down?"_

"_You and I both know that won't happen." She was truly exasperated._

"_I'm still saying no. You're not a surgeon, you're just an endocrinologist." He was so smug she wanted to smack that look off of his face so badly, but she managed to control herself._

"_Perhaps I am not as finely trained in your particular field as I could be, but I still know how to handle a situation like this. And by the way, your patient is over there," she gestured towards Kate, "not here." She gestured to herself. "You should be talking to her, not me."_

"_You told me everything I needed to know." He turned the machine back on, and for the next few minutes it would only be pumping the saline through the tubing. Before leaving the room he looked back at Lisa, studying her. He then walked around behind her and she turned around to face him. He just brought his gaze back up to her face (she was sure he was checking out her rear, after all, she had seen that look many times before from a certain someone) and left the room without another word._

_Kate was perplexed. "Was he checking you out?"_

"_Believe me, if I knew what the big fascination with my ass was, I would find a way to make money from it." They both shared a small laugh until Kate's face changed. "It's going to be fine. Just let it finish. I'm not going anywhere." Kate nodded. Lisa looked around the room to try to find something to make conversation about to distract Kate. Her eyes landed on a stack of school books on the window ledge. She noticed the text about chemistry and another about anatomy. "That looks like some interesting school work. Planning on being a doctor?" Kate shook her head. "Nurse?"_

"_Of sorts. You can go get them if you want." Lisa walked over to the books and picked them up. She took a closer look at the anatomy text and saw that it wasn't for humans, but rather for animals. _

"_Wow. Veterinary nursing. I had never even really thought about that as an actual field. Although, now that I do think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Impressive."_

"_Thanks. I'm only in my first semester but I'm managing to screw this up already." Kate turned away._

"_Look at me." Kate turned back. "You are not screwing anything up. You will catch up and you will be the best veterinary nurse there ever will be." After that, they slipped into a comfortable silence, with the exception of Kate's pain induced tears. Forty seven minutes later, the medication was finished, and Kate fell into a much needed sleep._

_Not long after that, Kate's dad and his fiancée walked in. "Hi," she greeted them quietly so she didn't disturb the sleeping woman._

"_Hi Lisa, this is Meg," he said, introducing the other woman. "How is she?"_

_Lisa sighed. "She had a hard afternoon. When I got here they were giving her potassium and it's a very painful medication. I tried to slow it down so it would be less painful, but ended up having an argument with her surgeon. He's a lovely man by the way." She said that last part extremely sarcastically._

"_I know, but he's great at what he does. I want to ask you for a favour. We've managed to get her out of bed and into the chair a few times, but she flat out refuses to try to walk any farther than a few feet. I was wondering if tomorrow you could try to get her to do it. I think she might do it for you." He looked at her, a concerned look in his eyes._

_Lisa glanced at Kate's sleeping form and then turned her attention back to Ryan. "Sure," she said with a smile. "I may have a few tricks up my sleeve I can try."_

"_There is one other thing. I have a spare room at home. I know you said you were fine sleeping here in a chair, but I just wanted to offer it to you. You've been such a huge help and all. We really don't mind."_

_Lisa thought for a few seconds. "That would be nice. Thank you. I am going to head down to the cafeteria and get some dinner. Would either of you like anything?"_

"_No, thank you. Actually, we haven't eaten yet either, and I was going to cook when we got home. You can join us if you'd like."_

"_I really don't want to impose." Lisa was a little hesitant. Not only was she being offered a bed, but dinner too. She hardly knew these people._

"_Really, it's no problem. What do you like?"_

"_Anything is good really, but I don't eat meat." _

_Ryan looked from her to Kate and back to her. "I get that a lot from her," he said. "I'm used to it." _

_When Kate woke up, they said goodbye and left for the evening. Lisa followed them home in her car._

_Saturday morning, Ryan told Lisa that he and Meg would be by later, but she could go in early if she wanted to. She agreed to that easily, and told him that it would give her some time to get Kate walking. She had a plan._

_When she walked into Kate's room she saw the young woman smile at her broadly. "I was thinking about something. Back at home, I have all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager on DVD and I happen to know you can watch them on your computer. Would you like me to bring them next week for you to borrow?"_

_Kate's face lit up. "Heck yes! That would be awesome!"_

"_There is one thing you need to do to get them though." This was going to be the hard part._

"_What?"_

"_Take a walk with me." Lisa watched as Kate's face fell. She looked like she was about to cry. "There are six disks for each season. For every step you take today, you get one disk. You only need to take forty two steps. That sounds fair to me." _

_Kate was very apprehensive. "It just hurts too much and I get so tired from just getting to the chair."_

"_We'll take it slow." Lisa was doing her best to try to reassure her._

"_What about the monitors and the pee bag?" Now she was just trying to make excuses to stay in bed._

"_Not a problem." Lisa made a move to switch the cardiac leads to the portable monitor. She then unplugged the IV pumps and then hooked the bag onto the stand. "See? We're ready to go." She helped Kate sit on the side of the bed, and then onto her feet. She grabbed a chair as she passed it. "The counting starts when we get into the hallway." Kate gave her a look that could only mean 'oh come on' but started slowly towards the door. She was leaning heavily on the IV stand, but she was moving. After the first step into the hallway she had to sit down. After a few minutes, she stood back up and slowly made her way down the hallway. Before long she had earned season one and decided she had to sit down again. "You're doing great!" Lisa smiled down at her and saw her just barely crack a smile in return. They repeated this process another six times. _

_Kate was relieved as she sat down. Then she looked back towards her room. "You are so mean!" Lisa laughed. "You let me walk all forty two steps AWAY from the room and now I have to get back!"_

"_You got your DVD's," Lisa stated, still smiling. They slowly made their way back to the room in a similar fashion. A little after noon Ryan and Meg came back and they all visited until the evening._

_Sunday went in a very similar fashion, except that Kate did her walking for the full boxed set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Lisa decided to throw the movies in for free. _

* * *

The sun was almost down by this point and Allison was starting to wish she had a sweater with her. Lisa picked up on this. "I know a little café near here that we could walk to on our way home. We could get some coffee or dinner if you'd like."

"That would be great." The two walked from the park down the street and soon reached the café. There were a few people there, but it wasn't crowded. The two had coffees and salads and talked about many different things. Allison had added at one point during the conversation that the surgeon reminded her of house. Lisa told her she had no idea yet. During the walk back to Lisa's house, they became quiet. When they reached Allison's car, she again spoke. "I had a great time today."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks for everything. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course." Allison smiled and got into her car.

Lisa watched her drive away. She walked into her house and closed the front door behind herself, then leaned against it. She had a feeling in her heart and she just couldn't figure out what it was or why it was there. If she had insisted on looking deeper, she would have found it to be a feeling of loss because of separation.

**Please leave a review! I love to hear from you. **


	6. Lost and Found

**A/N: Hey again! Another longer chapter. I just wanted to note that there is absolutely nothing sexual happening between Kate and Lisa in case you are tempted to read too far into it. Just go with it. Please review! It means a lot to me!**

Thursday brought a new kind of headache for Lisa Cuddy. The piles of work on her desk were double the size of that of a normal day. She knew that if she had been in the day before she would not have this much to sort through. Just then the door to her office was flung open.

"Cuddy. Why was Cameron at your house all day yesterday? Anything going on there?" House was unstoppable with the gossip.

"No House. I was sick, and we needed to cover the annual personnel reviews. That was all. Besides, this is none of your business."

"Really? Then why was she there the entire night before?" He was not going to let up with this.

Despite the fact that she had already stated it was none of his business, she continued on anyway. "I was upset. Someone had said something to me that was upsetting, and she was there when it happened. She slept on the sofa and made sure I was going to be ok. Like I said, that's all." She couldn't believe what he was trying to insinuate.

He kept pressing. "And Tess didn't complain?"

"She doesn't care."

"That's because she's in California with her new woman," House said smugly. When were you planning on tell me you were available?"

Cuddy was taken aback. "I wasn't planning on it, seeing as it's none of your business… And how do you even know about that, anyway?" It was none of his business, as she kept stating, so she couldn't figure out why she kept indulging him in it.

"I have my sources. So, Cameron's your new girl-toy… I didn't think that would even be a possibility."

"House. She's not my 'girl-toy' or whatever you think she is. She's a friend, that's it."

"So she knows what you do Tuesday nights though. That's the only way she could have known that, what I'm guessing, 'mini-you', might have said."

"And what exactly do I do Tuesday nights?"

"You dance." Cuddy looked at him with a gaze that could only be described as 'how the hell do you know' but didn't say anything. "A friend dragged me to a performance of The Nutcracker promising some juicy gossip that time during your sophomore year when you were the Sugar Plum Fairy. Your pas de deux was particularly interesting. You were ok, but with an ass your size, I figured you'd be better as Mother Ginger, but if they had cast you as that, I suppose you wouldn't have had room for the kids…"

"Thank you House. Goodbye." With that she closed her office door in his face. She was finally alone to do her work.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

The rest of the week had been pretty typical for both Lisa Cuddy and Allison Cameron. They hadn't seen much of each other that week either. There had had the passing conversation, but they were both busy. Tuesday brought a long awaited reunion. By the beginning of tap class, Kate had not arrived.

"I think she's avoiding me," Lisa admitted to Allison.

"Well, I probably would too after what she said to you. Don't worry; I'm sure everything is fine."

During jazz, Beth decided they were going to do calypsos down the floor. Michele immediately exclaimed, "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY over thirty should have to do those!" The entire class erupted in laughter.

Lisa decided to chime in. "Hey, I'm forty four and I can do them." She then pointed to Toni. "I am pretty sure she's a year or two older than I am and she's not complaining. Just give them a try."

"Hey, I'm not complaining, but that doesn't mean I have a chance in hell of actually doing one!" Toni felt it was appropriate to clarify the situation.

Michele had a counter move. "I haven't done them since I was twenty. I'm going to be the laughingstock of the class, aren't?"

"Of course not, we're all out of practice!" Lisa tried to reassure her.

Allison was not convinced. "Lisa? I have NEVER done one of these. I don't know how, but throughout my entire dancing hobby I have never even heard of a calypso…"

As it turned out, Michele didn't have nearly as much trouble as she thought she would have. Allison, however, was a different story. After she had made a disasterous attempt to do them both right and left, she turned to Lisa. "Seriously? This is not going to happen."

"Hey, relax. You'll get them. It takes some practice. I can help if you'd like." The offer was genuine.

"Ok. That would be great."

Next Beth started a new combination. A few minutes in, nearly every student was trying to figure out how to go from a position on the floor into a panche. It was then that Sydney spoke up. "You know, I think once you have two children your brain starts to deteriorate…"

"You think two is bad, try three!" Michele was quick to add.

Lisa chimed in next. "Three? Try having a thousand. Especially when two of them are Gregory House and Allison Cameron."

"Hey! Not fair." Allison stated with mock annoyance at the comment.

Lisa glanced over her shoulder and flashed a smile which managed to travel across her eyes as well. "Don't worry hon, your department is the only one I don't have to worry about." Did she just call her hon? What the hell was that? She looked around the room and, relieved, saw that nobody even blinked an eye at the comment.

After class, Beth pulled Lisa over. "Lisa? I need to ask you for a favour." Lisa was not incredibly happy about this. The last time she had been asked by her to do something, she had ended up quite literally banging her head into a wall repeatedly with a room full of teenage girls. "I need coverage." Lisa's face lost all colour as her expression turned to one of horror and she visibly cringed. "Don't worry. No competition practice this time. I promise. The week after next I can't be here on Tuesday night. Nobody on my staff can cover for me. You've done this before, several times. I can compensate you better if you want me to. Please?" It was, after all, her studio.

Lisa thought hard for a few moments. "How many classes?"

"Five. At four I have the mini's, you know, the pre-ballet/tap class, at five there is the level 1 tap, and six is the intermediate pointe and then there are yours."

"You had me at the mini's!" That was all she had to say for Beth to breathe out a sigh of relief and for Lisa to smile in response.

"You're a life saver! Thank you. I don't have anything specific for them to work on yet, so you can do pretty much whatever you want. I know you know what to do. I'd suggest some sort of combination for the adult classes. You guys tend to like that. You know how to run a ballet class. For the mini's, just keep it basic, of course. And-"

"I think I can manage. I look forward to it. I'll see you next week."

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Two days later Cuddy called Cameron into her office. After about fifteen minutes, she walked in. "Dr. Cuddy, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. It occurred to me that we haven't had a chance to go over your personnel reviews yet. I was wondering when you had some time free to do that. There is also something else that I could use your help with, something not related to hospital business." This last part was said with slight hesitancy. She couldn't figure out why, but she was nervous.

Cameron didn't seem to pick up on the anxious vibes. She thought for a moment. "I could come by your office after my shift, I get off at six. Would that work?"

Cuddy contemplated the idea for a moment. "That would be great. We could definitely go over the reviews here, but the favour I need needs to be done at my house. How about after we go over the reviews we get a quick dinner and then head over to mine?"

"That sounds great." Cameron was curious as to what this favour was, but she didn't bring it up. She figured that she would find out soon enough, although the suspense was going to kill her, of that she was sure. As she turned to leave, Cuddy spoke up again.

"Oh, Cameron? Bring your dance shoes." She smiled up at her, then put her head back down to work on a proposal leaving a perplexed Cameron to exit her office.

A few minutes after six, Cameron knocked on the door to Cuddy's office. "Come in," could be heard from the other side. She walked in and took a seat across the desk from Cuddy. "I hope your afternoon wasn't too crazy?"

"No, it was pretty good actually." Cameron set the stack of files on the desk for review.

They spent the next hour discussing each member of the ER staff. After finishing the work, they each left in their own cars. Lisa headed straight home, while Allison stopped at Irene's Pizza to pick up a pizza and some salad for dinner. When she arrived at Lisa's house, she slung the strap of her dance bag over her shoulder, grabbed the food, and headed to the front door, which opened just as she approached.

"Wow, it's like an automatic door here!"

Lisa blushed. "I heard your car pull up and I noticed your hands were full, so I thought I'd open it for you…" she trailed off.

Allison placed the food in the kitchen. "I was thinking, if we are going to be dancing at all, we should probably do that first."

"That's pretty much what I was thinking." Lisa turned the oven on low to keep the pizza warm. "Bring your stuff and come down to the basement with me. I want to show you something." She walked over to a closed door next to the door to the garage. They walked down the steps. Allison was taking in her surroundings. She had no idea that this house even had a basement. At the bottom of the stairs Lisa flicked on the lights. To their left was a storage room. Pretty unimpressive as far as she was concerned, although it was semi-organised. To the right was another door. Lisa opened the closed door and the room was completely dark. She switched on another set of lights.

Allison's eyes went wide. "Holy crap! My God… Wow." Before her was an amazing sight. Sure, she had seen this before, but never inside somebody's house. She took a few tentative steps inside the room and drank in her surroundings. It was a large room. One long wall was covered in floor to ceiling mirrors. The floor was covered in high quality Marley flooring. The walls were a light violet and they were covered with old costumes pinned up. She saw speakers attached to the walls on each corner and in the center of the mirrored wall near the ceiling. There was a cabinet to the left which housed the rest of the sound system. Off to the side she saw a free standing barre which could be placed anywhere. She was looking at, what appeared to be, a professional quality dance studio. "I can't believe it. This is… I don't know what to say…" Allison was absolutely speechless. "You, you built this?"

Lisa was practically glowing. "Yeah. I used to come down here and just dance on the cement floor. After… after, I was thinking that this is my house and I should be able to do what I want with it. I have always saved up for a rainy day, and that was one hell of a hurricane. I decided not to go for the six-inch sprung floors like we have at the studio, though. If you can do jumps and the such here without killing your knees, you'll be able to do them twice as well there. It hasn't gotten a ton of use yet. You're the first person aside from me to see it. I wanted to show Kate, but she's been so distant lately."

Allison was in so much awe that she couldn't find the right words to say. She ended up with, "Are all of those your old costumes?"

"Yup. The reason we are down here is because in two weeks Beth is going to be unavailable and I am going to be teaching her classes. I wanted to run some choreography by you to see how it'll work. Do you mind being my guinea pig? We could also work on those calypsos if you want." She looked at the other woman praying that she would say yes. She wasn't bad with choreography, but it was sometimes difficult to judge how easy or hard she was making it. "I mean, in the past, Kate has helped me, but she won't answer any of my calls or e-mails…"

"Nice to know I'm your second choice…" Allison replied feigning hurt.

Lisa only now realised what she had said. "That didn't come out right. I'm sorry. You're not my second choice at all! I'm just used to it being her. I would really love it if you would help me. Please?"

"Of course I will." She was still looking around the room walking from one costume to the next. She noticed that next to each costume there was a photograph of the class dressed in the costumes, most of them looking like they were taken in the dressing rooms at the recitals. She recognized a bunch of the people from students in her classes.

Lisa spoke, bringing her out of her own thoughts. "We could start with tap if you want, I would suggest we do a brief warm up, y'know, like the flaps and shuffles just to get our feet moving a bit?" Allison nodded her agreement, and they put on their tap shoes. "I'll just put on some music." Lisa's iPod was already plugged into the sound system so all she had to do was put on the right music. Allison let out a squeak of surprise when she heard the music.

"Really? You have this on your iPod?"

"Yeah, Beth gave it to me the first time I had to cover a tap class of hers." It was the same music that they used for the warm ups in class. "I figured it would be easier for us if we didn't have to go through something tonight that we didn't already know, but I could put on different music if you'd like."

Allison immediately responded. "No, this is fine. I was just surprised is all." Lisa restarted the music and they both did the warm ups.

"I was thinking, since for tap I have our class as well as a younger class, I couldn't choose anything like what I chose for jazz for us, but I was thinking about the song Feelin' Alright by Joe Cocker." She flipped the song on with the press of a button. "What do you think?"

Allison listened to the song for a few seconds. "I think it's great. It's got a good solid beat to hear."

Lisa spent the next forty-five minutes teaching the other woman the choreography she had come up with the night before. She had choreographed ten counts of eight. After Allison had learned them all, they made their way to the kitchen to get some water, then came back down to the studio.

"I'll put on some music and you can stretch and warm up any way you want to before we get into the jazz stuff." They took the next four songs to do whatever they needed to in order to not hurt themselves. "Here's what I picked for our jazz class." Lisa pushed another button and "Out Tonight" from RENT came on.

Allison listened. "I don't know this one. Who wrote it?"

Lisa was taken aback. "You really don't know this? Have you heard of the musical RENT?"

The younger woman nodded. "I have, but I've never heard anything from it."

"The musical is great. They made a movie of it a few years ago which is good, but it's a little strange. Some of the songs are in a different kind of setting than they are in the show. I have the movie if you want to watch it," she offered.

"That would be great." They again spent about forty-five minutes dancing. "You came up with some great stuff!"

"Thanks. How about we work on the calypsos now. I have an idea about a good way for you to try them."

"Ok." The first thing they did was sit on the floor in the position that the calypso jump would be. For the right side, they were angled to the right front corner with their right legs out straight towards the right back corner, and their left legs in attitude back. The same was done for the left side. Now they were going to go down the floor.

"Start in tendu front with your right leg, then do a chaine turn in plie. When you are again facing the direction you are moving in, do a grande jete and turn out of it. Like this." Lisa demonstrated. "When you do the actual calypso, you will be facing the front as you turn your jump, but for now just face the side of the room." They did sets of three down the room both ways until Allison felt comfortable with that. "Ok, now try to add the calypso jump instead of the grande jete." This was giving her more trouble, but after the other exercise, it was a bit better.

"Thank you for that. It really did help. How about we watch that movie while we have some dinner," she suggested.

"That sounds great." Allison brought the food and some sodas into the living room while Lisa set up the movie.

They sat happily on the sofa after they were done eating dinner with their feet, again, up on the coffee table. Neither one seemed to notice when Allison's head ended up resting on Lisa's shoulder, nor did they notice when Lisa's head began to rest on Allison's. It was during the song 'What You Own' they were rudely interrupted by the unmistakable banging of wood on wood against the front door.

"Hey! Boss lady! Open up!"

Suddenly they were both very aware of the position they were sitting in, and immediately pulled away. Lisa walked over to open her front door. Allison could hear the conversation from the other room. "What do you want, House?"

House looked in the door as if he were looking for something. "Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering why your not-girl-toy was here at your house again at," he looked at his watch, "eleven at night."

"I really don't see how this is any of your business. Now go away." She said sternly. She tried the shut the door in his face, but he stuck his cane out into the way.

"It is my business because it's your business and you know your business is my business, especially when it involves the business of a former duckling's business."

"House, I don't understand a damned thing you just said, just leave."

By this time Allison had walked to the door from the other room. "House, we were dancing. In the dance studio Cuddy has in her basement." She chimed in. If she had been looking at the other woman instead of House, she would have seen the momentary look of hurt at the use of her surname.

"What kind of dancing, the horizontal mambo?" House raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Now it was Lisa's turn to tease. "You'll never know, House, because you would have to get down and then back up a full flight of stairs in order to watch." House was so stunned that his reflexes weren't fast enough to catch the door from swinging into his face again.

"Pfew. Why does he have to check up on me? I know he doesn't have many interesting things in his life, but honestly?" Lisa was very annoyed. "Do you want to finish the movie?"

Both of their minds went to their seating arrangement just before the interruption. "No, I think I should be getting home. It's late. Thanks for everything, though."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Lisa had a thought. "I'll be right back." She grabbed the DVD and the case and brought it back out to the door, along with Allison's bag. "Here, borrow it and finish it if you want."

"Thanks." They stood that way at the door for a few moments lost in each other's eyes. Lisa reached out with her hand and tucked a few loose strands of Allison's hair behind her ear. "I, uh, should be going. See you tomorrow. Bye." She quickly let herself out and almost ran to her car. When she got in, she brushed her fingers over the path which the other woman's hand had travelled just a minute before. She didn't know what she was feeling, but she knew it was something she had rarely , if ever, felt before.

Inside, Lisa was mentally kicking herself. _You idiot! Why did you do that?_

PPTHPPTHPPTH

It was Tuesday night again and Allison and Lisa were talking before class. "Do you think Kate will show up tonight? She's usually here long before us."

Lisa shrugged. "I left her a message today saying that if she doesn't show up I'm going to come find her, so I don't know what to expect, but one way or another I'm going to find out what's going on with her." She turned to Allison. "I'm really worried."

"I can see it when you talk about her. I hope she's ok."

That night dance went by without any incidents, good or bad, but Kate didn't show up. Lisa turned to her friend. "I'm going to go to her apartment. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok, good luck."

"Thanks."

Lisa turned on the music in her car. She was listening to the CD that Kate had recorded for her. Before long, she reached the apartment. She pulled up into a parking space in front of the correct building, walked up the two flights of stairs to Kate's floor and started to knock on her door. The sound of Simon barking welcomed her, but Kate didn't answer. "Kate? It's me. I want to talk to you." She waited a few moments for an answer. "Look, Kate, I'm not mad at you. I'm worried. Please, open up so we can talk."

The door opened a few inches. She could barely see the younger woman. She could, however, tell that the apartment was dark except for some dim lighting from the kitchen and the glow of the laptop screen on the floor. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm worried about you. I want to help you." The reply was genuine, but the young woman was reluctant to believe it.

"Why would you even want to see me again after what I said to you? Are you a masochist or something? I would never want to hear from me again if I were you."

"I know you only said what you said because you aren't you right now. You aren't thinking clearly. I can tell something is wrong." Lisa looked at her closely, as if trying to figure her out just by staring.

"This IS the real me. That wasn't. The me who you think was me? That was somebody else. You like the other me, not the real me."

Lisa was now curious. "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that was me on drugs. That was the me that the doctors created. This? This is the real me. No more drugs, just me." During her speech, she started crying. She had also moved back away from the door enough so Lisa could open it further and come inside. She did so, then shut the door. Kate immediately fell into her arms and cried into her shoulder. Lisa then walked the two of them over to the sofa to sit down. "I just don't know what to do. I can't think. I mean, I can't think about anything that I need to think about. I am having such obsessive thoughts. When I'm at work, I can barely keep myself working. I spend hours a day thinking about the stories I am writing on my computer. I have my favourite few episodes of certain TV shows that I watch over and over and over. There's this one episode that I've seen probably close to fifty times in the past six weeks. I lose time. A few weeks ago I was up late at night watching that same episode again. I put it on pause for some reason. The next thing I know I'm looking at the clock seeing it said eight o'clock. I was wondering why it was still dark out. It took me twenty minutes to realise that it was twelve hours later than I thought it was. I wasn't asleep. At least, I doubt I was. My phobias are getting worse too. I never like odd numbers, and I can't stand when the television or the radio or anything is on an odd numbered volume setting, but now I totally freak out. I get anxiety when I even leave my apartment. I'm scared."

Lisa sat there and let the young woman vent. "Hey, it's ok. We can figure this out. Tonight, though, I want you to take your meds and you and Simon are going to come stay at my place so I can make sure you don't have any adverse reactions to restarting them. Tomorrow you are going to make an appointment with your psychiatrist. Ok?" She felt the woman nod into her shoulder. "Let's get some stuff packed."

Kate paused. "I have a problem. I don't have any of my meds anymore. I got rid of them back in May."

The thought that she had been off of her meds since May was disturbing. It's no wonder she was so mixed up. "That's fine. I can write for a week of them for you. We can get it filled at the hospital pharmacy, the are open twenty-four hours. It's no problem," Lisa said reassuringly. "What do you need?"

"Um, Emsam transdermal patch 12 mg/24 h, Risperdal 1 mg, Focalin XR 10 mg. I also take some other stuff for arthritis and nausea PRN, but I don't need those."

"Ok, I can get those for you."

"The Emsam, though, leaves these red squares wherever I put it for like a week after I take it off. Could you give me something else instead?"

"Sorry, I can't," she said apologetically. "Your psychiatrist probably will if you ask though."

"Ok, thanks." Kate got up to start collecting items. After everything was packed up, she got Simon into his harness and lead and they got into the car.

After a brief stop at the hospital, Lisa decided to broach the sensitive subject of food. "Kate? Have you had dinner yet?"

"No." The reply came after a pause. Sighing, she figured honesty would be the best thing at the moment. "I don't know when I had something. It was either yesterday or the day before."

It took much self restraint to not comment on this, but Lisa managed. "I haven't had dinner yet either. I can make my famous macaroni and cheese if you'd like."

"Sure. That would be good. You know how I like it." Kate had been referring to the substitution of certain ingredients such as the heavy cream in the cheese sauce.

"Yup, I do. We have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Simon will be fine in the car by himself for a few minutes, I'm sure."

As they were driving Lisa's phone rang. The ringtone was 'Crush' by Jennifer Paige. "Hey, Allison… Yeah, she's with me… She's ok… We're going back to my house… We can talk tomorrow… Ok, bye." Kate had indeed noticed the choice of ringtone, but decided not to comment on it.

After a brief stop at the store, they were now on their way to Lisa's house. "I have a surprise to show you back at my house. You will never guess what it is, but I've been wanting to show you for a few months."

Kate was intrigued. "Are you gonna give me a hint?"

Lisa smirked. "Nope!" They then fell into silence, with the younger woman trying to imagine just about anything that the surprise could be.

After arriving at the house, Lisa went ahead with cooking dinner. Kate helped, but was too excited by what she was waiting to see, and she could tell. "Ok, ok, you win. Go down to the basement."

"The basement?" Kate was perplexed.

"Yeah. Go through the door on the right at the bottom of the stairs."

Kate walked through the laundry room and down the stairs. A moment later, Lisa heard an excited shriek and started laughing. "Leese! This is amazing!" Kate was making her way back up the stairs. "When did you do that?"

"I did it over the summer. You like it?"

"I love it!" Kate was smiling the first genuine smile to be on her face in a long time. "That's so exciting." By this time dinner was ready to eat. They fell back into their old pattern of conversation over dinner. When they were finished clearing away the dishes, it was Lisa's time to talk.

"Meds time. You must take the Risperdal at night, yes?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't make me tired anymore."

"You've been off of it for a while, you never know. I suggest you take it now." Lisa was trying her best, but she wasn't sure if it will be enough right now. Kate was, however, responding. "We can watch a movie if you want."

Kate thought for a few seconds. "RENT?"

"Sorry, I know you love that one, but I lent it out. Any other suggestions?"

Kate thought for another moment. "Nightmare Before Christmas."

"Sounds good to me." She put in the DVD and they sat watching.

Within half an hour, Kate was feeling funny. "I think you were right about the meds," she slurred, "I can't seem to keep my eyes open any longer."

"That's ok. You can close your eyes." A few minutes later, Kate was fast asleep on her lap. When the movie ended, she tucked the sleeping woman in on the couch with a pillow and a blanket and headed off to bed herself after giving Simon one last walk.

Lisa was standing in her office when Allison walked in. The younger woman came right up to her and smiled seductively. "You have no idea how much I want to take you right now on your office desk," she said. Lisa was about to respond, but was stopped by a finger pressed against her lips. "No talking right now." Allison leaned in closer. Instead of kissing her lips, she began to run her tongue up and down the other woman's ear. She gently nipped at the lobe a few times before planting small licks across her cheek and down her jaw. Her tongue then traveled to-

Lisa lurched awake and immediately yelped in surprise. Simon was standing over her licking her forehead. "Geez, Simon, you scared the hell out of me." Her body was screaming from the dream. She decided getting out of bed to wash her face would serve a dual purpose, so that's just what she did. She swung her legs down over the bed to stand up but instead, she stepped on something. Or rather, someone. Kate was curled up on the floor next to the bed sleeping without a pillow or a blanket. "Hey, how did you get in here? You were out like a light a few hours ago," she said to the still sleeping woman. She was sure that Kate would wake up with muscle aches if she stayed where she was for the rest of the night, so she knelt down and lifted her up. She placed her on the other side of the bed and tucked her in under the covers. She then travelled to the bathroom to wash her face. When she came back to the bed, Kate was snuggled up with Simon.

A few hours later, Lisa's alarm went off. Immediately a deep groan could be heard by both women. Lisa looked over at Kate who was awake as well. "Does he always do that when the alarm goes off?"

"Not always, but often." Lisa gave off a chuckle.

"That's really adorable." She was genuinely amused. I'm going to put on some exercise clothes and head downstairs to do my morning routine. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Kate took Simon for a walk while Lisa was getting ready. Together they headed to the basement.

In the mornings, she did a mix of yoga and stretching. She connected her iPod to the system and started some soft music.

While Lisa was getting ready for work, Kate watched cartoons. Breakfast was fruit and coffee for both of them. Kate and Simon were dropped off at their apartment on the way to the hospital. "Lisa? Thanks for last night. Really."

"Anytime. Please, I really meant it when I'm here if you need anything. Don't run away."

"I know. I promise I won't." Kate looked at her. "You know, if you ever need to talk about anything, even, you know, I may not be a Ferengi, but I'm all ears…" They shared a smirk at the reference.

"Don't forget to put the patch on after your shower, and call the doctor!" Lisa just had to throw that in.

"Yes mom," Kate replied sarcastically while rolling her eyes. She walked in the front door of the building with Simon and Lisa continued on her way to the hospital.

**Like it? Hate it? Let me know!**


	7. Green

**A/N: I am truly sorry for the long delay in an update. If you've been reading my notes, I was calling for MGL. Well, she heard me. After three years, she wrote me. I was a little distracted by that. Sorry. This chapter is not as long as usual, but I hope you like it! You might not like what I did with one of the flashbacks, but I was trying to make a point. No, I do not believe that under normal circumstances Cuddy would have let this happen, but this is fiction BASED on fiction, so please excuse me? Please R&R!**

Cuddy was furiously typing away on her laptop keyboard. She could feel herself being pulled waist deep into a confrontation with a long time donor who was now threatening to pull his funding if new demands weren't met. She wanted to avoid the man under the best of circumstances, and these were clearly not. Despite her need for concentration, her attention was completely divided between the work she was doing and her cell phone which was sitting just inches away. Her focus on both objects at once was so complete that she didn't even notice the newest addition to her office until the intrusion was propped on the side of her desk. Even then, she was startled out of her mind when she did notice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you…" Cameron was clearly uncomfortable. "What were you thinking about that had you so distracted, if you don't mind my asking. I mean, you're staring at your phone so intently you seemed to be trying to make it ring yourself."

Cuddy looked back to her phone and then her computer. "I'm in the middle of trying to keep one of our larger donors from pulling funding, and also expecting a phone call." At that instant the object in question started to play "The Dog Song" by Nellie McKay. Cuddy snatched the phone up immediately and pressed the button to answer. "Kate! How long does it take you to get showered in the morning? I've been waiting for your call for almost three hours. I was worried you forgot…" She listened for a moment. "And please explain to me how he managed to get covered in oatmeal?" She listened for another moment and let out a small chuckle. "I'm glad you decided to eat something when you were hungry, but honestly, it works better if it's inside you, not outside your dog. Did you put the patch on? Good. I suggest you make another bowl of oatmeal and this time don't trip over Simon on your way to the other room, ok? Ok. Talk to you soon… love 'ya too. Bye."

"Is that seriously your ring tone?" Cameron was taken by surprise at the obvious playfulness that ring suggested.

"It is for Kate. I have special ring tones for certain people." Cuddy was back to splitting her attention as she turned back to the computer while taking a sip of her coffee.

"Do I have one?" Cuddy immediately started to choke on the mouthful of coffee and spit the remainder back into the mug. "Breathe. In… out… in… out… I didn't mean to become a choking hazard here!"

"I would say no, you don't, but I think I may have just given myself away with that. All I will say is I'm not going to play it for you." Cuddy was back to the normal steel determination that dominated her professional demeanor.

Cameron couldn't figure out what had just happened, but accepted that she would just have to wait to find out. Or, she thought, she could just ask Kate sometime… She decided to change the subject, almost as if for her own safety, and Kate was on her mind. "So, Kate's mom doesn't mind you encroaching on her turf with your maternal relationship with her daughter?"

"Please don't ever do that." Lisa was nearly lost in her own mind at that comment.

"Do what? What did I do?" Now it was Allison's turn to be lost.

"Don't ever mention her mother, especially around her. Never. Please don't." There was a look of pure truth that couldn't be ignored in Lisa's eyes. Allison was going to have to accept that the other woman didn't supply any more at the moment.

"Why? What happened?" Allison tried to get her to open up. She was trying to find out what had caused her friend to freeze. A babbling Cuddy wasn't something that you see every day. Especially not a babbling Cuddy with that look on her face.

"I was with her in the hospital after her surgery when her," she choked over the next few words, "her mother came in. A few minutes later she pretty much told me I could have her…"

* * *

_The two were watching one of Kate's favourite episodes of Voyager, 'Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy' when two visitors walked into the hospital room. Kate's gaze broke away from the computer and slowly refocused on the intruders. "Mom," she choked out. Indeed, after a little over two weeks in the hospital her mother and sister had finally shown up for a visit. Lisa started to rise from her position next to the bed to give the trio some privacy but she saw the pleading look of desperation in Kate's eyes and felt the young woman's hand grip her own tightly. Obviously, Kate wanted her to stay, and although Kate had just slightly briefed her on her relationship with her mother, she thought she should at least give them some time, but remained where she was seated none the less. _

"_Mom, this is Lisa. Lisa, this is my mom and my sister." Kate made quick introductions. Her mother and sister were standing at the foot of the bed seemingly ignoring the woman sitting next to Kate._

_Her mother looked around briefly. "It looks like you're making them all go to a lot of trouble here. You've even got your friend here," she gestured towards Lisa with her head, "indulging you in some entertainment, I see. You've always had a flare for the dramatic. Knowing you, you're not half as bad off as you are making it look like." Lisa's gaze bounced back and forth between Kate and her family. She honestly couldn't believe what the woman was saying. "We all know you only do things like this for the attention." Lisa saw the tears forming in Kate's eyes. _

_A moment later, Ryan and Meg walked into the room. In the span of fifteen seconds Kate's mother and sister were out of the room. Of all the ridiculous things Lisa had ever seen, this might be near the top of the list, and she was pissed. "I'll be right back," she told Kate. She stormed down the corridor and caught up to the pair at the elevator. "What the hell is your problem? You come to visit your daughter and stay less than five minutes just because your ex-husband walks in? What kind of mother are you? Your daughter has been through major surgery and is having a horrible time with recovery and you just, just come in, accuse her of faking symptoms, and walk out without even saying goodbye?" She didn't care that she was making a scene in the middle of the hallway; this woman had pissed her off. "How can you treat her that way?"_

_Kate's mom was nonplussed. "You obviously don't know my daughter half as well as you think you do."_

"_Maybe I don't know her as well as you do. What I do know, though, is that she's an amazing young woman who has had to live with a lot of crap her entire life. The kinds of things that she puts up with on a day to day basis are more than I can imagine sometimes. I also know that she deserves a mother who gives a damn about her life." Lisa was livid at this point. "If I were lucky enough to have a daughter like her I would never, never do what you just did in there."_

_The other woman made a simple gesture with her hand. "If you think she's so amazing, why don't you try being her mother? You will find that she's not so great after all. She's a destroyer of relationships. I bet she didn't tell you that she broke up my marriage, did she? Of course she wouldn't. I hope your husband or boyfriend or whatever doesn't mind having another person around, because she clings like plastic wrap. She's got you wrapped around her little finger already, I can see that."_

"_Look, I don't understand what your problem is. I have no problem with being the person your daughter comes to when she needs something, no matter what that something is, and I'm sure Tess wouldn't mind either."_

_The look on the two others changed. This time Kate's sister spoke. "Wait, Tess? This is just insane."_

_Her mother took over again. "So you're the one who gave her the impression it was a good idea to date other women. She mentioned something along the lines of that kind of thinking a few years ago, but I thought she grew out of it. I guess having you in her bed was what was keeping her thinking mixed up. You really have some nerve to corrupt her like that."_

_By this point Lisa was even more furious than she could ever remember being, but she had plenty of practice keeping a moderately cool exterior thanks to House. "First of all, there is nothing wrong with loving someone, even if they do happen to be of the same gender. Secondly, I have only known your daughter for a little over a year, so if she had ever mentioned anything to you before that, it had nothing to do with me. Thirdly, I have never, and will never, engage in sexual acts with your daughter." With this, she started walking back towards the room. _

_Kate's sister had to get the last word in. "Give her a kiss for me, and make sure to use plenty of tongue!" Lisa just ignored the comment and continued on her way. _

_That night after a late dinner at Ryan's house, Lisa sat down in the living room and took out her computer. She had managed to leave the hospital at a decent hour but still had some work to catch up on. "Damn." Her computer battery was dead. She looked in her bag for the power cord, but came up dry. She hated to ask for more than she was already being offered, but it was something she needed. She found Ryan and Meg still in the kitchen drinking coffee. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Ryan, but I need a favour. My computer died and I must have left my cables in my office. I have some work that I need to finish tonight. Do you happen to have one I could use?"_

_Ryan got up from the table. "Of course I do. It's upstairs in my office. I'll help you turn it on." They walked up the stairs together. They entered the small room next to the guest bedroom. "This used to be Jenn's, sorry, Kate's room when she lived here." He walked over to the computer and turned it on after first flicking the power strip on. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."_

"_Thank you. I'm sorry to impose like this." Lisa was embarrassed that she had managed to create a bigger imposition than she already was. _

_Ryan turned towards her. "Don't be silly. You are not an imposition. I am the one who should be thanking you for being so helpful and such a friend to my daughter. Thank you." Ryan then left the room, and Lisa, to her work._

_While the computer was coming on, she took a moment to look around the room. Floor to ceiling book cases lined one wall filled with books ranging from fiction to politics to sciences and everything in between. Above the computer hung Ryan's diplomas. He was well educated. She noticed the bachelor's degree from Columbia University. Next to that was his doctorate from Yale University. A cheerful tone from the computer informed her that it was now fully booted and she was free to begin her work. _

* * *

"_Seriously? You can't even figure that out? I honestly thought you could have done this yourself. I was working until I had to leave last night and I honestly thought you could fend for yourself. If you can't manage to find a way to make anything in the freezer cook for you, by all means, you have my permission to get take-out. Honestly. You can't figure out how to cook a frozen dinner?... I don't believe you. You're impossible. You want a home cooked meal every night? Honestly? I've got better things to do than cook for you… I didn't mean it like that, you know I don't… I'm sorry. I love you. I just don't think that you should be so incapable of heating up some frozen macaroni and cheese. I know it's not my special recipe, but it's good. I promise. Please just try it for me… I love you… Yes… Ok, I'll ask her, but I won't make any promises. I'll miss you tonight… I'll see you Sunday. Goodnight."_

"_Your boyfriend can't work a microwave?" Meg was looking at her own in contempt, even though he knew well how to cook for himself._

"_More like girlfriend, and no, she can't, I suppose."_

"_Don't worry, husbands aren't any better, believe me."_

"_I'm sure they aren't. You don't think that he'll, you know, make me leave her alone now…"_

"_No, of course not. Ryan knows you are a friend of hers. He won't care about who you choose to date. Believe me, he's not like that." Meg was completely speaking from the heart. "Besides, I know about her preferences, even if he doesn't. I won't let him kick you out because of that, even if he were to think that, which he won't. He's very open-minded."_

"_She wants to meet 'the woman who is taking me away from her'. I want to ask Kate if she would allow a visitor next weekend. I completely intend to book a hotel room, though. I don't expect you to have us both as guests. Do you think she would allow another visitor?" Lisa was nervous at this. She knew how Kate reacted to those around her and didn't think that the young woman would allow another visitor on premises. _

"_I don't know how she would react to that, but if you explain who she is, I'm sure she would consider, at least, she would if she were thinking clearly… Maybe you should just ask her though. She seems to respond to you better than anyone else at this point." Meg was unsure how else to respond to the question. She was sure, however, that in her own sane mind, Kate would react to the question with open arms. Now, under this kind of medication, however, she was unsure how she would react. _

_A few hours later, at Kate's bedside, Lisa decided to open the topic of conversation. "Kate? Are you awake or are you just staring at the blank TV again?" Lisa decided to open the conversation with humour, seeing as Kate had not stared at the blank television for several days at least._

"_I'm here. I'm awake. Lisa? You seem to be feeling awkward…"_

_She was continually impressed by how perceptive the younger woman could be. "I need to ask you something. I don't know if you know, but I have a girlfriend." _

"_I know. I know you do."_

"_Would you mind if she visited next weekend with me? She means a lot to me and she wants to meet you," she left out the part about wanting to meet the woman who was taking her away from her girlfriend. "She'd like to know who you are."_

"_She can come. It's ok, as long as it's ok with dad…"_

"_Your dad doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm going to get a hotel room for us. He won't have to give us a room. I just needed to know it was ok with you." Lisa was feeling relieved at Kate's response, but she was starting to ramble again, obviously because of the effects of the narcotic._

"_We can talk some other time. You should try to get some sleep now." _

"_She can come. She's fine, as long as she comes with you…" Kate was starting to drift off again._

"_She'll be with me, don't worry," Lisa reassured her. _

_Later that night, both Ryan and Meg insisted that it was fine for both Lisa and Tess to spend the night in the guest room the following weekend. The following weekend's arrangements were made firmly, and that was that. _

* * *

"_Ryan, come on. Stop staring"_

"_I'm sorry, blame my gender." Lisa and Tess were on the sofa of the living room off of the kitchen. Lisa was lying in Tess's lap and looking up into her eyes listening to what she was saying._

"_Come on. They came here on an invitation. Don't stare," came the admonishment from Meg. _

"_Dinner is ready," was the only thing out of Ryan's mouth._

_The four sat down to a quiet dinner. At least, that's what it was in the beginning. Lisa put her fork down with force. "Stop it. Just stop. Please."_

_The other three in the room looked at her with surprise. Tess finally spoke. "We're not at your precious hospital, Lisa. Besides you don't mind that at home."_

_Lisa was getting uncomfortable. "We're not AT home, Tess. Stop it."_

"_Stop what?" Tess could be incorrigible. _

"_Outside," Lisa said, gesturing to the sliding door leading to the porch. "What the hell are you doing?" _

_The rest of the conversation was muffled by the now closed door. Both Ryan and Meg were watching, while trying to give the impression that they were ignoring, but it was nearly impossible given their own proximity to the argument. Being several inches taller, it was clear to the couple indoors that Tess was using her height for intimidation. Every few seconds she stepped forwards toward Lisa, who took a step backward, until she eventually hit the corner of the porch. Suddenly realising that she was now, literally, backed into a corner, she unconsciously started to lower herself down to the floor. Around the point where she was starting to bury her head into her knees, which were pulled up to her chest, Ryan got up and started towards the door. Just at that second, Tess backed off and sat down on a patio chair, took out a cigarette and flat out ignored Lisa balled up in the corner, as if these kids of altercations were commonplace in the relationship. Perhaps they were. _

_Ryan watched, still stunned, as Lisa pulled herself up and wiped at her tear streaked face. Shakily, she made her way back inside. Without a word, she walked back outside through the front door and made her way to her car. Normally, she would find refuge in her office, but that was miles away. Having no idea where she would go, she began to just drive. _

_Kate was almost asleep when she sensed movement next to her. She opened her eyes to see the chair next to her bed had been turned to the window. Over the back of the chair she saw a pile of dark curls, and she could hear the faint noise of post-cry sniffles. "Lisa? What happened?" _

_Startled, the woman got up and turned the chair around to face Kate. "Nothing big, we just had a fight. I was upset. I just need some time to clear my head." She thought for a moment. "You might want to give your dad a call. I think I might have scared the crap out of him by leaving the way I did… I think we may have just given him a crash course in the so called 'dyke drama'."_

* * *

"That was the first time I had gone to another person after fighting with her. It felt good to talk about it, and anything else, with her. It certainly wasn't the last time I went to her after an argument… no, there were many other times…" Lisa suddenly realised she had completely lost the original point of the conversation, but Allison seemed to be willing to just listen. "I'm sorry. That was completely uncalled for." She composed herself quickly. "What can I do for you Dr. Cameron?"

"Well, I actually had two questions to ask, but one was already answered. I was wondering if you had been able to help Kate. The other question was I was wondering if you needed any more help with your choreography for next week. I mean, I could come over and help if you do."

Lisa was slightly amused at the deep blush forming on Allison's face. "I could use some help still. If you want, you can come over tonight. I should be done here around seven."

"Great!" Allison said with a bit too much enthusiasm. Reining it in, she continued, "I'll see you then." Embarrassed, she made her way back to the ER.

Lisa's phone rang yet again, but this time she heard "Crush". She looked down at her watch and swore under her breath. It was about seven thirty. "Allison, hey, sorry. I got distracted. I'll leave now. I should be home soon."

"No problem," came the voice on the other end. "There's a car in your driveway though. Were you expecting other company?"

"Is it a dark plum Honda Civic with a magnet on the back reading 'I heart my Shih-Tzu'?" Lisa was certain she knew who it was.

"Yup."

"That's just Kate. She probably either came over to use my kitchen, my plasma, or my basement. She'll let you in, just knock. I'll be there soon."

"Will do. Bye." Allison walked up to the door and gave a solid knock. Kate answered wearing an apron which had a floury hand print on the side.

"Ally, hi. I didn't know you were coming over. Come in." Kate bounced a few steps away from the door to let her in. "I was just trying out a new cookie recipe. It's double chocolate with semi-sweet chips. Wanna try one?"

The chocolaty aroma wafting through the house was too good to resist. "Absolutely." She picked a warm cookie off of the cooling rack. "So, you have a key to Cuddy's house?"

Kate gave her an odd look. "You can call her Lisa, you know. Are the cookies any good?"

Allison gave her an answer by picking up another cookie. "You haven't had any?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't usually eat what I bake. I find out if it's good from other people." It seemed logical enough to her. Changing back to the other subject Kate inquired to Allison, "Don't you have a key to your mum's house?"

Allison gave her a quizzical look, thinking back to the conversation she had had with Lisa that morning. She didn't know how Kate would like her knowledge of the relationship, so she played it like she had no idea what was going on. "You consider her your mother?"

"Well, not technically. She's the closest thing I've ever had, though. I don't usually call her mum, mostly in jest or when she's acting all parenty." The sound of the front door shutting clued them into the arrival of Lisa. "Mum!" Kate shouted, jokingly, for Allison's benefit.

"Hey, ladies. What did you make this time, other than a mess, of course? It smells wonderful." Lisa entered the kitchen and caught Allison stealing another cookie.

"I'll clean up, promise!"

"I have your movie," said Allison, handing over the DVD of RENT. "Thanks again for letting me borrow it."

"Have you ever seen the show?" asked Kate. "It's totally awesome. It's different from the movie, though. Lisa took me for my birthday a few years ago." Kate was still almost bouncing off the floor. Clearly, she was back in a manic phase.

"Give me a minute to change and then we can go downstairs," Lisa said to Allison.

Kate gave her a quizzical look. "You came over to dance?"

"Lisa's filling in for Beth Tuesday, and I was helping her with some of her choreography for the classes. You can join us if you'd like."

"Cool! I have my dance bag somewhere in the abyss of my car. I'll go get it." Kate was placing the last of the utensils and bowls into a sudsy sink to soak as Lisa came back in. "You didn't tell me you were teaching next week. Your classes are always fun."

The three went down the stairs to the basement and started the flap warm up to get their feet moving a bit. Halfway through the shuffles, Kate was suddenly feeling like she was going to be sick. She quickly excused herself and headed upstairs for the bathroom. Allison was concerned. "Is she ok?"

Lisa made a face. "I don't know. Nobody seems to know what the problem is." She looked over at Allison who had a far off look in her eyes. "Oh, come on. Put away the mental white boa- wait a second, I just had a thought. Pull the board out again, would you?" Together, they patiently waited for the young woman to come back downstairs.

"What?" was the question on Kate's mind when she walked back to the basement to find the other two staring at her.

"Have you seen an endocrinologist?" asked Lisa.

"Well, I seem to remember waking up next to one this morning. I can't remember how I got there, but still…"

"I stepped on you. You were sleeping on the floor next to the bed, so I put you in it. That's not the point, though." Lisa was curious now.

"No, I haven't. But I really don't want to go to any more appointments for this. It's feeling ridiculous." Kate was seriously getting tired of all of the appointments with all of the different doctors. It was at the point where she would live with the vomiting rather than go to another doctor.

"Can I have some of your blood? You won't need to go to another appointment, at least not an endocrinology appointment, unless I find something, deal?" This was the best offer Lisa could make at the moment.

"Ok. You win. I'll give you my blood. But just so you know, you sound sorta vampirey." Allison was trying not to laugh at that last statement. How many times had patients called her a vampire while she worked for House? 'Get me blood, lots of blood,' was an order she had received from him many times.

They spent a little over an hour downstairs before they were tired out. Up at the front door, Allison looked on while Kate and Lisa said goodbye for the evening. They filled a few moments with quick banter and a hug. If envy could really turn you green, Allison would match the grass after a spring rain. She was jealous of the closeness Kate had with Lisa. Not just the ease of a physical connection, but truly deep emotional connection that the two shared. That was the second that her conscious and subconscious minds collided like two trains on the same track. She wanted Lisa Cuddy. All of a sudden her insides felt like they had physically been involved in the mental train wreck. She was completely oblivious to the goodbye she had been given as she walked out to her car and made her way home.

Lisa shut the door feeling confused. Her friend's mood had flipped just minutes before. She could see the moment clearly in her mind's eye. One second she was happy, the next second she looked completely lost in her own thoughts. That look in her eyes, though, that was a look Lisa had seen often. It was the one she saw in her own eyes when she saw herself in a mirror after thinking about the woman known as Allison Cameron.

As she walked into the kitchen to fix a late dinner, she noticed the sink full of baking equipment. To nobody in particular, she shouted, "Jennifer Kate Kramer! Can't you ever learn to clean up after yourself?"

**Next chapter will be fun! Please review!**


	8. Advise, Teach, Play!

**A/N: I'm sorry for the long delay in updating. I got very inspired for a few chapters that will happen well into the future of this story but I had to get them out of my head. I hope this chapter will be satisfactory for you though. Please leave a review!**

Allison had a lot to think about. The realization she had had five days before had been forefront in her mind ever since. She tried to concentrate on her job, but that was difficult. She was, however, managing to avoid Lisa almost completely. She hadn't had any uncomfortable conversations with her, and she had only been in the same room with the other woman a handful of times. It's not that she didn't want to see her; it was more that she wanted to sort out her own feelings before she had time to completely screw up or give the wrong impression. All of their interactions over the past few months took on an almost new, more understood, light. Every feeling had been dissected under a microscope and analyzed. She was now sure what she wanted, but she wasn't sure about what Lisa wanted. Sure, there were the subtle signs here and there, but was that real or merely her own imagination and desires she was projecting onto her friend? She needed some advice. Tomorrow night she would see Kate at the studio and talk things through. She would understand, and she knew Lisa better than anyone else Allison knew. Yes, she would talk to Kate.

No, she would definitely NOT talk to Kate. That could lead to even more confusion and misinformation. Anything that Kate knows about Lisa could be clouded with thoughts and memories of her ex. Additionally, Kate could quite possibly talk about the conversation with Lisa. That was an extremely uncomfortable thought for Allison. She would just have to think about this by herself for the time being until she came up with a better idea. She thought about herself. She had been married twice. Would Lisa even want to be involved with somebody who had such baggage as a dead husband and a divorce? No, she would certainly not. But then again, Lisa already knew about that much of her baggage and there were signals that she could be interested…

She was still pondering this when she walked into the cafeteria. She picked up her usual order, a turkey sandwich on rye bread with spicy mustard, and looked for a table. Scanning the room, a table in the corner caught her eye. The table had two seats but only one occupant. That was where she would head. She started to approach the table confidently and watched the occupant flip over a page in a patient file. Suddenly changing her mind, she turned around and walked a few steps in the opposite direction. _You idiot. _She again turned around and made her way back to the table, albeit less confidently. Again, although closer this time, she lost her nerve and turned around. That's when the occupant spoke, still not looking up from the patient file. "Can I help you with something, Dr. Cameron?" Shit. She had apparently been much more conspicuous than she had hoped she would be.

Thoroughly unsure of herself, she walked back to the table, but didn't sit down. She needed to answer. "No. I mean yes. Or no. Definitely. Mayb-"

"Well, which is it?" The occupant cut her off. "It's a simple question. Can I help you, or not?" The occupant was amused. It was a very rare sight to see Cameron so uncomfortable about sharing a lunch table, or, for that matter, asking for something. "Here, sit." She gestured towards the chair at the other side of the table from where she was sitting, still not looking up from the file.

Tentatively, as if she were afraid the chair would collapse as soon as she touched down, Cameron sat. Surprise, surprise, the chair held. It was now or never. "Uh, I could use some advice, Thirteen."

This caused the other woman to immediately look up in surprise. "You want advice. Advice from me? I don't see how my knowledge could possibly be better in any area of medicine than anyo-"

Now it was Cameron's turn to cut her off. "It's personal."

Remy Hadley was now completely floored. "You want advice on a personal matter. From me. Did House put you up to this?"

Cameron was surprised. Why hadn't she thought this through? "No, he didn't." She shook her head. "It's about liking a woman…"

Thirteen's eyes opened as widely as they possibly could. "You… Really? Wow, I had you totally wrong." Cameron blushed heavily. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just had no idea, and usually I'm pretty good about these things."

Cameron found her voice. "Well, I had never actually considered the possibility before. It just, well, happened I suppose."

Thirteen was still in shock. "I probably don't need to tell you, my track record with women is horrible. I've never had any relationship with another woman that lasted very long at all. In fact, just about all of them were one night stands. You should try talking to Cuddy. I'm sure her relationships have gone better than mine…"

"You know about Cuddy?" Now Allison was floored, and not for the first time.

Thirteen explained. "Like I said, I'm usually pretty good at these things. Hold on… YOU know about Cuddy?"

Allison didn't know what to say. She apparently found a response with, "Well, yeah, I do. I, uh, found out a while ago, on a Tuesday night…" She hoped she hadn't given too much away. Thirteen didn't understand. "Tuesday nights we, um, dance."

"Dance? You mean that's real? Is there really a 'Cuddy Jr.' too?"

Allison was surprised. "You know about Kate? I mean, of course you do, you work for House. She's not really a 'Cuddy Jr.', but yeah, she's real."

"So if you know Cuddy so well, like I said, you should talk to her."

Allison blushed a deeper shade of crimson than she had ever in her life. "That's not a possibility here."

Thirteen was confused. "I thought you guys were friends with the dance and all."

"Yeah… That's part of the problem…"

"Oh." Realisation suddenly dawned on Hadley. She was, after all, not at all stupid. "Ooooohhhhh. Oh my God. You like Cuddy? Wow. Ok. Let me just process this a moment." Hadley had to think about this. "Are you saying you want to know how to get into the pants of our Dean, or are you saying you really want to be with her? I'm not going to help you if you only want a one night stand. That may be how I operate, but I won't let you do that to her. She is my boss, and yours, after all."

Allison had to find her voice. "I absolutely want her for more than a one night stand. I can't say I know where this will go, or even if it will go anywhere, but I think I may love her as more than just a friend. I want to put my all into this."

Thirteen thought for a moment. "Do you know if she's interested in anything more than friendship?"

"I honestly don't know." Allison thought back. "There have been moments where I think so, but could it just be me projecting onto her? I feel like there are signals, but then again, I have no idea how to read signals from another person. Me, the woman who married a dying guy and a jerk. Signals are probably the last thing I pick up on."

Thirteen absently gnawed on the end of her pen. "My advice would be to give her a sign that you are interested. Do something that she would see easily, something that would mean something to her. It doesn't have to be something obvious like sending flowers. In fact, I would do something that almost nobody else would be able to pick up on, but she would. You know her, so I'm sure you can find something. Just give her a sign and leave it up to her to respond according to what she is feeling. You'll know when you get a response."

Allison digested this information. "Thanks. I'll have to think a bit to come up with something, but thank you for the advice."

"Any time."

Allison was deep in thought as she walked towards the door to the hallway. _Give her a sign she would see._ Suddenly she walked into something. Not something, someone. Not just someone, but Cuddy. The two managed to stay on their feet, but not without an immense effort. Thirteen watched the embarrassed meeting from across the room and smiled. Allison was mortified.

Thirteen went back to her files but was promptly interrupted again. She looked up to see Cuddy standing across from her. "Dr. Hadley. I need to speak to you about something. Could you please come to my office at some point before you leave the hospital today? There are a few things I would like to discuss with you." She noticed that her boss's boss was actually displaying some nervousness.

Inwardly Thirteen smiled. "Sure, Cuddy. I'll stop by before I leave."

"Thank you."

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Cuddy was standing in her office in front of the light box examining images from a patient's MRI when Thirteen entered through the door. She scowled and leaned down to get a different angle. "You know, Cuddy, it's not a skirt. You're not going to get a better view by looking up it." Cuddy pulled the films off the light box and held them in front of her before lowering them slightly. "It's not a cleavage either, looking down won't get you anywhere special." This won her a look that could only mean, 'knock it off'.

Cuddy handed the films over. "What do you see here?"

Thirteen studied the images carefully. "It looks like a normal MRI to me." She looked over at her boss who seemed disappointed at the lack of explanation for the patient's persistent pain and immobility of her hip. "House wants a psych consult."

"It's about damned time." Cuddy said dryly.

Thirteen smirked. "It's for a patient."

"I figured. The image was good while it lasted though." Cuddy planted herself down on the sofa and gestured for Thirteen to seat herself in the armchair. "I need some advice."

"That seems to be going around a lot today," Thirteen replied. Cuddy raised an eyebrow in question. "You're not the first person to ask me for advice today is all."

Cuddy balled her hands in her lap. "This is not something that you are likely to be asked about here at the hospital, but I need to ask you something else first. Usually I would get advice from Wilson, or just about anybody other than you, no offense," Cuddy could see the characteristic smirk still on Thirteen's face, "but this is a sensitive subject and I'd appreciate you not saying anything about this to anyone else. I do value my privacy, but like I said, I can't go to Wilson with this for reasons that will become obvious to you. Goodness, I'm rambling. I'll just come out, so to speak, and say it." Thirteen already had a pretty good idea where this was going and noticed the interesting choice of words her boss had used, probably unintentionally.

After nearly a minute Thirteen was starting to become nearly as nervous as the other woman from simply sitting there watching her fidget. She gestured with her hand for a continuation of the apparent monologue. She got nothing in response. "Oh for goodness sake, just say it."

Surprised and perhaps brought back to the present, Cuddy started. "IthinkI'minlovewithAllison." As quickly as she had started talking she fell silent and dropped her head into her hands. "Oh, why? Why now? Why her? I mean, she can't possibly be interested. I mean, one flash across her eyes, that's all I saw that ever made me think she could be interested, but she can't possibly be. I'm so much older. I'm damaged goods. I'm fresh out of a long term relationship that ended worse than badly. Help me get over this. How do you get over this?" She looked up and over towards Thirteen.

Remy Hadley was momentarily caught off guard. For the first time she was actually seeing the woman Lisa, rather than the administrator Cuddy. Finding her own equilibrium she spoke. "I don't understand why you would want to just get over this. After all, you don't really know how she feels anyway, right?" She waited for confirmation in the form of a nod. "Have you thought she might feel similarly? I mean, I've seen the way she looks at you, I think that there is a possibility she might feel similarly toward you."

Lisa was surprised. "Do you really think?"

"Here's what I would suggest," started Thirteen. "Let her make the first move. I have a feeling that she just might do that. When she does, give her a sign back that you are interested. It doesn't have to be big, in fact, I'd suggest something little. Something similar to the sign she gives you. If she's really interested in having something more than friendship with you, she'll let you know. Just wait and test the water a little bit. I think you just might be surprised at what you find." Just then her beeper went off. "Sorry, I've got to go. Apparently Taub isn't doing his job right and they need me to help. So much for my night off." Thirteen got up and walked out of the office leaving Lisa to think things through by herself.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Lisa arrived at the studio fifteen minutes before four Tuesday afternoon. In half an hour the mini's would walk through the door and her long, yet enjoyable evening would begin. She changed out of her power suit and into more comfortable dancing clothes and did some stretches to warm herself up. Before she knew it, she was teaching a group of eleven five year old girls. She started them out in their ballet slippers and ran through some plies and tendus and took them through the positions. She set up towel in the middle of the room and the young girls practiced their leaps over the "crocodile river". Soon they changed into their tap shoes and they practiced shuffles and taps. During the shuffle hop step exercise one girl announced the need to use the potty. After this was taken care of, the rest of the class went smoothly.

Five o'clock brought the tap class. They were advanced enough to do the warm up that Lisa was used to in her own tap classes. They then did some exercises down the floor and in the center before working on the combination that she had choreographed for the tap classes.

Six o'clock brought the intermediate pointe class. She knew well how to run a ballet class from her years of experience. During the first plie combination at the barre, she put on her own pointe shoes. It was unusual for a dancer her own age, even a professional one, to dance on pointe, but she often practiced in her basement studio and knew she could handle it. A few exercises in, she gave the class a develope combination where they would do developes en croix first on the whole foot, and then on pointe.

"Ladies, it's really not that hard if you get your feet used to it. Trust me, I would know," she said to them after they started complaining.

"If it's so easy, show us. You're wearing the shoes, but you've yet to do anything with them. How about a little proof of what you say you can do." There was a murmur of approval from some of the other teenagers.

"Ok. What do you want to see?" Lisa would show them anything. They were challenging her, and she would live up to their surprised expectations.

The young teen thought for a moment. "How about an eight count of fuettes en pointe."

Lisa tilted her head. "Is it alright with you if I start with a pirouette from fourth and then do them?"

The young teen was so surprised at the response that she nodded her assent. No sooner was this done than Lisa was in a wide fourth in the center of the room. Following a perfect pirouette she did the rest of the eight count of fuette turns, finishing with another pirouette, this one with an extended leg and then finished again in fourth to the stunned look on sixteen faces. Taylor, Beth's daughter was the only one who was able to find her voice. "That was awesome. You're, like, old enough to be out morther and you can still do those?" Lisa had come to accept the fact that she would never have children of her own, but there were times when comments like this seemed to dig into her soul. She did her best during her daily life to live normally, but hearing herself being compared to a mother was hard. Instead, she tried to concentrate on the class again. Needless to say there were no more complaints about pointe. In fact, that display had caused the teens to request that she teach them how to do the turns.

Between the barre and the center parts of the class Lisa gave the students a few minutes to stretch themselves however they felt they needed to. This was when she heard the low murmurs of the class begin. When she turned around, all of the whispers stopped. "Ladies, if you have something to say, just say it. I assure you, I know enough about ballet to answer a question if that's what you're thinking."

One of the girls, she was pretty sure her name was Alix, spoke. "Lisa? Is it true that you live with a woman?"

This caught her off guard. She decided it was always best to go with the truth. "For a long time I did, but I don't anymore."

The question didn't end there. "Were you living with that girl from the next class? The one with the purple hair?"

Why did everybody think she slept with Kate? "No, I have never lived with Kate, although sometimes it seems she's at my house so much she aught to live there. Her name was Tess."

Another girl took over now. "So, were you guys like together, together? Or were you guys just, like, roommates."

Taylor cut in. "I really don't think this has anything to do with class and I know my mom would never let this line of questioning get this far. I, for one, want to do the center exercises so let's just shut up and stretch." Lisa was impressed by the 13 year old girl. Finally they did get back to class.

Seven o'clock brought her own tap class in. They did the normal warm ups and then tried an accent exercise. It was a basic shuffle-ball-heel-clap, but it was repeated sixteen times. The first four with the accent on the out of the shuffle, the next four with the accent in, the next four with the accent on the ball, and the last with the accent on the heel. "You all got the clap right!" Lisa pointed out after the exercise. Finally it was on to the combination which everyone enjoyed.

Jazz class brought some more interesting business. After the warm up Allison had an ideal. "Hey, can you help us all do calypsos the way you taught me?" She was met with several groans from the class.

Toni spoke. "Allison, you just threw us under the bus, woman."

"Actually, she didn't just throw us under the bus, she was the one driving it!" Kate exclaimed. Despite this, the calypsos were done down the floor along with some other interesting combination type exercises and the actual combination piece was begun. The music choice was great according to the class and the choreography was manageable.

By the end of the class, everyone was exhausted, but Lisa had one more thing to add. "Don't forget this Friday is Halloween and I am throwing my annual Halloween party at my house. Your families, especially the kids, are invited to attend. We'll have trick-or-treating and all sorts of fun! Wear your costumes!"

A murmur of 'I'll be there' and 'Goodnight' could be heard from everybody and plans were made and everyone left to go home.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

It was nearly four in the afternoon on Friday. Lisa was sitting on the edge of her bed and Kate was on her knees behind her just barely winning the battle between Lisa's curls and the flatiron. "Leese, you need to stop moving or I'll end up straightening your eyebrows instead of your head hair."

Lisa took a moment to run her fingers over said eyebrows when her eye was drawn to a fourteen pound quadrapedal devil walking by with his head bobbing up and down between his front legs. "Sorry. I don't think he likes the hat you made for him."

Kate glanced over. "He'll get over it. It's just for the evening." Just then Simon swatted the hat and horns off with his left paw. "Either that or he'll destroy it. Now stop moving!" Kate finished up with the flatiron and carefully parted Lisa's hair into bangs and pigtails. The pigtails were placed high up on Lisa's head and then braided. "Ok, time for your costume. This is going to be perfect!" Kate was so excited she was practically shrieking. Once both women were dressed it was time for the finishing touches of Lisa's costume. Kate meticulously drew on her neck and arms before giving her one last glance over and declaring her perfect.

At that moment the doorbell rang for the first time that evening. It was still a bit early for trick-or-treaters, and the women were pretty sure who it would be at this time. "It's open" chorused through the living room. "Allison, you're just in time to help us bring the table down to the basement."

Allison walked through to the living room and was immediately speechless. "Wow, you guys don't do Halloween half way, do you." It was a statement, not a question. She looked Kate over. She was wearing a black pleather outfit that was obviously hand made. It was the perfect replica of Xena's leathers, complete with hand painted gold. The only difference was that Xena's were brown, not black, but that was a minor detail. She even had the chakram. Lisa was a different story altogether. Her costume was nothing if not completely spot on. She was wearing a black baby t-shirt, a red and black plaid skirt, black thigh-high panty hose with little bows at the top, a pair of black boots with cat faces on them (those were actually borrowed from Kate), and her lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Topping it off was a studded dog collar, two studded wristbands, and an assortment of tattoos including a spider web on the side of her neck. She was the spitting image of Abby Sciuto from NCIS.

"You might want to close your mouth before the flies get in, Allie." Kate suggested. "Did you come from work?"

Allison shut her mouth before opening it again to speak. "Uh, no, this is my costume." She was in scrubs and her lab coat. "I thought I'd go like this."

Kate turned to Lisa. "I hope her medical skills are better than her creativity. Going as yourself is pretty boring."

Allison blushed. "I'm not going as an ER doctor, I'm a vet, see?" She gestured towards her scrub top which had pictures of dogs and cats on it.

You could practically see a light bulb go off over Kate's head. "Hold on, Allie. I'll be right back." An awkward silence hung in the air while Kate was outside rummaging through her car's trunk for something. Neither Allison nor Lisa knew what to say as they were each practically staring the other down trying to discern what the other was thinking. Finally the tension broke as the storm called Kate reentered the room. "Here, put this around your neck." Allison took the stethoscope but noticed it was a good deal smaller than the one she used on a daily basis. "It is smaller, I know what you were thinking. It's the perfect size for the little hearts and lungs and such of animals, see?"

GRAPPUFFFF GRAPPUFFFF. Allison jumped out of her skin. "What the devil was that!" she asked.

Kate and Lisa were barely controlling their laughter at the irony of the statement. "Exactly." Allison was confused until she saw, quite literally, the devil walk in. Kate picked Simon up. "He's a loud sneezer. And, he's the devil. At least, that was my intention, but he hates the hat with the horns. Here, you can hold him while I go get his Halloween t-shirt out of the car for him to wear instead. He could be your patient!" Kate unceremoniously plopped Simon into Allison's arms and again ran out the front door. The squirming ball of fur started to furiously lick Allison's face before she placed him on the floor.

The awkward silence returned. "How much candy has she had already? That girl's more hyper than, well, she's just really hyped up."

Lisa smiled. "As far as I know, she hasn't had any. That's just her excited, and possibly a little manic. I'm not sure if she's still on what she's supposed to- oh crap." Lisa paled. "It's a few minutes before five and I'm not set up yet. People will be here any minute. Here, help me with the table. The music is all ready to go." The two were joined by Kate about half way down the stairs which, to be completely honest, made it even harder to move the table, but they managed to get the job done none the less.

By five thirty everyone had arrived. The costumes were incredible. There were the usual witches, princesses, pirates, and the like, but there was also a Lego, a cup of coffee, and 'nerds on a rope'. The kids were already on sugar highs and the trick-or-treating hadn't even begun yet. After drawing straws, it was decided that Toni would stay behind and give out candy at Lisa's door while the rest of the group went door to door for a while.

About an hour and many pillow cases full of candy later the troupe made it back to Lisa's basement where Toni had set up the delivered pizza. The kids sat around trading for their favourite candies while the adults cringed at how much sugar was being consumed. "Hey! Let's play Broom!" came from one of the children sitting in the circle. Following that statement was a chorus of cheers and "Yeah's".

Most of the parents looked at each other and smiled. Lisa cringed. "I should mention that underneath this Marley flooring is a solid concrete slab… Not particularly conducive to that game."

Beth walked over to her. "About that… I happen to have the acro mats from the studio in the back of my SUV. I thought they might come in handy," she supplied as she winked. "Besides, if anybody gets hurt we have two doctors here to help, one of which specializes in emergency medicine."

"Technically I'm an immunologist," Allison chimed in.

Lisa thought for a moment before acquiescing. "Ok, but if anybody gets hurt you're not getting a discount in my emergency department."

"Technically, Lisa, it's my emergency department," Allison teased.

"Which is in MY hospital. Let the games begin!"

Ten minutes later the table had been moved to the edge of the room and the mats had been laid out on the floor. Everyone was standing in a circle around the mats while Beth outlined the game for anyone who was unfamiliar with it. "Ok, here's how we play. The person in the center has to put their forehead on the top of the broomstick and turn around it ten times. Then we take the broom away and they have to do ten jumping jacks without falling. If they get close to the edge of the mats or the circle, we have to catch them before they get hurt. Got it?" There were nods and giggles from everyone. "Oh, one last rule. Keep the comments PG people, we're in mixed company!"

Almost immediately upon the commencement of the game everyone was laughing so hard they could hardly breathe, especially when it was an adult in the center. To watch children do it is one thing, but to see grown adults attempt this feat, and fail, was something else altogether. It was Lisa's turn after Kate, who managed to make it an entire two jumping jacks before falling over. Lisa tripped over the broom handle but caught her balance before making it eight jumping jacks and out of the circle. Next came Allison's turn. She got her arm twisted in her lab coat around jumping jack number four which caused her to wind up smacking Beth in the face with her other arm and then landing in a pile on the floor at Lisa's feet.

Before long it was after nine at night and everyone was either exhausted or high on sugar, but either way, it was time to make it back home. Thankfully, there had been only one injury during the game, that being the elbow to Beth's face, and all that was required was an ice pack. Nearly everyone had left, and Kate and Allison were the only ones still there. "I think I am going to clean up in the morning. I'm a little too tired to do it now." Lisa had changed out of her costume and was lounging on the sofa with the other two women.

Allison yawned. "I have never even heard of that game before. It's hilarious. Did you guys make it up?"

"We played it last year at the studio once." Kate was sitting next to Lisa with her head on her shoulder and Simon on her lap. "Somebody showed us a youtube video of it on their phone, I think it was Deanna actually, and we just had to try it out. Hilarity ensued."

"I can see how." Allison pointed out. "Lisa, do you want me to come over tomorrow and help you clean up?" She was secretly hoping for an affirmative answer.

Lisa yawned. "Really, you don't have to. I'll be fine." She immediately rethought her answer after mentally hearing what she had just said. "But if you want to come over, I won't say no." She was also hoping for an affirmative answer from Allison.

"I don't mind. Just give me a call when you want me to come. I'm off, as you probably know."

The two, well, if you count Simon, three visitors made their way to the front door. Allison felt another pang of jealousy as Lisa gave Kate a goodbye hug before she turned to leave. "Bye Abby," Kate shouted from the walkway.

"Bye Xena, Devil Dog," Lisa shouted back. She turned to Allison. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah," Allison said. The two stood there in the doorway for what felt like an eternity just staring into each other's eyes before they were interrupted.

"Allie, I can't leave until you move your car…" came Kate's voice.

"I, well, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye." Allison quickly turned to leave.

"Yeah, bye." Lisa said to the now gone Allison.

**So what did you think? Please let me know!**


	9. Responses

**Disclaimer: I figure it's about time for another one of these. I don't own anything related to House, its characters, or PPTH. I do, however, make a claim to Kate!**

**A/N: I am dreadfully sorry for the length of time that has passed since my last update. I have no plans to abandon this story. Quite the opposite actually. This chapter is extremely long for what I usualy write as I just couldn't figure out where to cut it, so I hope you enjoy! **

**A/N 2: In case you are wondering, I threw the whole Diabetes thing in as a shout out to a good friend of mine. **

**A/N 3: FORGET YOUR TROUBLES, COME ON GET HAPPY!**

* * *

A little after nine Lisa answered the door to a cheerful Allison. "Hey," she said. "Thank you for coming to help me clean up. It's not terrible, but it's nice to have some company."

Allison was happy to help. "Anything I can do for you. Last night was a ton of fun. I got the feeling that you do a lot of entertaining. You seemed really prepared for everything."

"Yeah, I do. Mostly it's just with the people at dance though. I don't do much with people from the hospital." They were making their way down to the basement where the majority of the mess was. "I found it's pretty difficult to bring them into my home without letting my…" she searched for the right word. Not finding one, she chose the next best thing, "Personal life spill out of the cabinets." She recalled a moment from a few years ago. "Or walk out of my bedroom and call me by a pet name. I managed to convince my guests that it was simply a joke, but it was awkward none the less. I have half a mind to think she did that just to frustrate me."

Sensing that Lisa was starting to feel annoyed about whatever she was referencing, Allison decided to try to change the subject. "I'm still curious about the beginning of your relationship with Kate. You were telling me about after her surgery. What happened next?"

Lisa was happy for the distraction and at this point was so wrapped around Allison's pinky finger that she would probably have done just about anything for her. "I guess the next thing that happened was…"

* * *

_Lisa was walking back to her office from a board meeting when her cell rang. She looked at the caller ID and it was Kate. "Kate, hi. What's up?"_

_Kate paused. "Lisa? My catheter is burning the hell out of me and I don't know why. I told my surgeon but he just bushed it off and it hurts. I don't know what to do."_

"_Usually that means you have a urinary tract infection or maybe a bladder infection. He didn't do anything?"_

_Kate started crying. "He didn't even care. It hurts a lot though. I'm sorry I bothered you. I'm sure it's nothing."_

_Lisa reached her office and sat down at her desk. "I'm sure it's nothing serious," she reassured her. "I will call him though and tell him what you told me, ok?"_

"_Yeah, thanks." Lisa heard Kate crying still. "Hey, do you want me to come visit tomorrow?"_

_Kate's mood brightened. "Yeah, that would be great. I love when you come. It gives me a break from my dad… that didn't come out right…"_

_Lisa laughed. "It's ok. I know what you mean. I'll call your doctor and I'll see you tomorrow evening."_

_Kate smiled. "I look forward to it. Thanks Lisa."_

_The next call Lisa made was to Dr. Christopher's office and left a message for him to call her as soon as he could. Later that evening she was about to leave the hospital when he returned her call. "Cuddy," she answered. _

"_Dr. Cuddy," came the fakely cheerful voice of the surgeon. "What can I do for you?"_

"_Kate," then she remembered, "Jennifer Kramer says her catheter is burning her. She says she told you about it and you refused to do anything. I think she might have an infection. I think you should remove the catheter. She's able to get up and walk around by herself now; there is no reason why she should have it in anymore."_

_Dr. Christopher remained as calm as always. "I don't believe there is anything going on. I'm sure she's just tired of having it in her and would like to get it out, as would most patients, and I think she is just using her connection to you in order to try to persuade me. It won't work. Now, if that's all, I have work to do. You should go back to pushing papers or whatever it is you do." He ended the call._

_Lisa was pissed. She made a decision before she left the hospital. She would be driving to Philadelphia tomorrow and she was going to come prepared. She went to the supply rooms and pulled out a few items. Two syringes, one to drain urine from the collection bag and one to pull the saline out of the balloon in the catheter, a cup to put the drained urine into, test strips to test the urine for an infection, and a few other items needed in order to remove a catheter. She fully intended to bring these things with her when she left tomorrow afternoon. With that, she went home for the evening which she was sure would not be relaxing due to the fact that she was about to tell Tess she would be spending another weekend alone._

_Over dinner she broached the topic. "Tess, I'm going to Philly for the weekend again."_

_Tess became angry. "What, Lisa, do you love your new little pet more than me now? You can't leave her alone for more than a few days at a time?"_

_Lisa put her fork down and put her hand on Tess's. "It's not like that and you know it."_

_Tess was outraged. "Well please explain it to me because it seems like she's been taking precedence for a while now."_

"_I'm sorry you feel that way."_

"_Right," Tess countered._

_Lisa was doing her best to remain calm. "She needs somebody right now."_

_Tess was downright pissed at this point. "It seems like she's got a great dad and he's got a girlfriend and they seem to be doing just fine to me."_

_Lisa sighed. "That's not what I mean. She needs a friend other than her family."_

"_What, she doesn't have any friends of her own? Can't one of them keep her company?"_

_Now Lisa started to lose her cool. "She does have a friend of her own. I'm her friend, and she needs someone who knows enough about what's going on to advocate for her and that's what I'm going to do. When she's home I'll be here. She'll still be my friend. She'll still be a part of my life, but I won't have to travel anymore to help her. I'll be here with you. I promise."_

_Tess was still angry as anything. "Right, I'll believe that when I see it. I would put money on the fact that you'll be spending weekends at her house right here in Princeton as soon as she's back."_

_This set Lisa off. She didn't say anything more. She packed her dinner into a container as well as some other items from the refrigerator. She then moved to the bedroom and packed enough clothes and toiletries to last her until Sunday evening before leaving the house and driving to the hospital without saying goodbye to Tess. She had nothing more to say to her right now. She hoped that a few days would allow her to cool down a little and allow herself to regain her equilibrium. She drove while listening to the music on the radio. When she reached the hospital the lobby was virtually deserted and the clinic was completely empty. She sat down at her desk and finished her dinner before resuming some paperwork that she had intended to finish the next morning. Around midnight she decided it was time to lie down on her couch and try to get some sleep._

_It was around four thirty Friday afternoon when Lisa arrived at Kate's hospital room. Ryan was sitting in a chair next to her bed and they were watching a movie. Kate looked up and smiled. "Lisa! Do you want to watch a movie with us? We just started. We can start it over for you if you want"_

_Lisa came over to the side of the bed and looked at the screen on Kate's computer. They were watching Best In Show. She had to admit, it was a hilarious movie and she loved it, but she had more pressing matters to deal with. "I'd love to, but I have something to take care of first." She pulled out the specimen jar and a syringe from her bag._

_Kate looked at the huge needle. "Please tell me that is not getting anywhere near me," she pleaded. _

_Lisa put on a pair of gloves. "Nope, don't worry. You won't even know I'm doing this." She leaned down next to the bed where the collection bag was hanging and withdrew a sample large enough to test. Kate and Ryan watched as she emptied the sample into the cup and dipped some sort of strip into it. She withdrew the strip and placed it on a few paper towels she had placed on the sink in the bathroom. She then pulled over a chair and watched a few minutes of the movie with Kate and her dad. When she felt that the strip would be done she went back to check it. One look and she left the room and headed to the nurses' station. She was annoyed, to put it mildly, but she knew there was no reason to take it out on the nurses so she composed herself before approaching. "Hi. I was wondering if you could get Jennifer Kramer's doctor to give me a call? I need to speak with him."_

_The nurse nodded and placed a call to his office. "Could you please have Dr. Christopher call back here? There's a woman-"_

_Lisa cut her off mid sentence. "Dr. Cuddy."_

_The nurse continued. "A Doctor Cuddy wants to speak with him." The nurse was put on hold while the person on the other end relayed the message to the doctor. "Thank you. I will tell her." The young woman turned her attention back to Lisa. "I don't know what kind of pull you have around here, but he said he'll be down within the hour."_

"_Thank you very much for your help." Lisa made her way back to Kate's room satisfied that the situation would be resolved._

_About an hour later Dr. Christopher made an appearance in Kate's room. Lisa stood up. "I hear you wanted to talk to me," he said menacingly. "I thought we had already discussed this."_

_Lisa walked over to the bathroom and picked up the wad of towels which housed the now dry test strip. She walked back over to him without saying a word and shoved the strip in front of his face. "Positive for leukocytes, and not just trace amounts, either. Like I said, she's got an infection. Removing the catheter is the correct course of action medically."_

_He just looked at her with a smug grin. "What would you know, you haven't been a real doctor in years."_

_Lisa was taken by surprise. Sure, she knew this guy reminded her of him, but she didn't realize just how much they shared. "You know House. Wow. I thought I knew all his frienD," she said, emphasizing the singular form of the word._

_His grin just kept getting smugger. "Greg and I go wayyyyy back."_

_Lisa regained her composure. "If you don't remove the catheter, I will."_

_He looked at her. "Is that a threat?"_

"_No." Lisa remained calm. "It's a promise." Dr. Christopher shook his head, turned around, and exited the room. "Ok then. I guess I'm doing it."_

_Kate watched as Lisa put on another pair of gloves and pulled out another syringe and a small bag from her bag. Kate was again dismayed. "Is that one going in me?"_

_Lisa looked over to her. "Kate, you've been stuck how many times in the past few weeks and you're still worried about this?"_

_Kate saw her point. "It's just that those things you brought are so big!"_

"_Don't worry. This one isn't going to go inside you either," Lisa reassured her. _

_Suddenly Kate had a thought. "Uh, Lisa? You're not going to be looking down THERE, are you?"_

_Lisa noticed her discomfort. "Well, actually… yes. But I'm not going to be actually looking, looking. There's no way for me to remove the catheter without…" She made a gesture. "You do want it out, right?" A confirming nod from Kate was her answer. "This might be uncomfortable, but it won't hurt. Just like when your NG tube came out, ok?" Kate nodded again and braced herself. Lisa pulled the saline out of the bubble that held the catheter in place and gently pulled the catheter out. _

_Kate was surprised. "That wasn't so bad." She relaxed a little before making a discovery. "I gotta take a leak." With that, the three people in the room had a quick laugh as she made her way to the bathroom._

* * *

_Saturday morning came and Kate was a little bit dismayed to find that instead of the clear liquid diet she had been on for the past two days, she was given a tray of actual food to eat. It's not that she had so much of a problem trying to eat because of possible pain, it was more the fact that she was completely hung up on the fact that she was supposed to eat actual food AND still have the TPN nutrition going into her at the same time. That was just completely unacceptable. In the end, she went back to sleep and ignored the breakfast that had been brought to her. _

_A few hours later Lisa arrived and sat reading the latest budget reviews until Kate woke up. "Hey," she said when she noticed Kate was looking at her. She reached over to the table next to the bed and handed her her glasses. _

"_Hi," Kate said with a smile. "Work?"_

_Lisa grimaced. "It's a never ending process. Once you are done, there's always more to do."_

_Kate smiled. "It's kinda like doing laundry. You think you got it all done and then you go to put your pajamas on and WHAM! Another outfit to wash…"_

_Lisa chuckled. "Exactly."_

_The two decided to take a walk around the floor. Kate was getting much better at this. She only had to sit down twice during the entire circuit around, and she managed to find an empty chair both times so Lisa no longer had to carry one for her. After this they went back to her room and watched one of the DVD's that Lisa had brought this weekend. It wasn't too long after this that Kate was again faced with the same problem she had earlier, only this time she had an audience. _Wonderful, _she thought. This is going to be difficult to explain._

_Lisa saw the fact that Kate was on solid food was a great sign and commented on it. _

_Kate was not so thrilled. "Yeah, great…"_

_Lisa felt she was clearly missing something. She took a stab in the dark on this one. "I know you are afraid of it hurting, but think about this. Most of your pain is from the lower end of what they did inside of you. This isn't going to go near that. I can guarantee you it won't hurt you as much as you are worried it will."_

_Kate looked away. "I'm not worried about the pain," she said._

_Lisa spent a while trying to think of something she could say or do to convince Kate to eat, but it was difficult seeing as she truly had no idea what the problem was. It was at this point that Ryan made an entrance. Lisa intercepted him as Kate stared off into space and took him out into the hallway. "They gave her some solid food for lunch but she won't eat it. I'm thinking she's really scared that it will hurt her. She told me she wasn't worried about the pain, but I am not convinced. What I do know is that I'm sure they won't let her go home until she has demonstrated she can handle food. Maybe you can talk to her?"_

_Ryan processed the information and sighed. "Are they still giving her the IV nutrition?"_

"_Yes, but you know she can't be on that indefinitely."_

_Ryan nodded. "I do. I also know that pain is almost certainly not the reason she won't eat right now."_

_Lisa was perplexed. "I don't underst-" Suddenly it dawned on her. "Oh." She thought back to what she knew about Kate from the past year and a half. Sure, she was quite thin, but she had simply assumed that was because of her illness, but she realized she had never once seen her eat anything. The class liked to go out for dinner and drinks every two or three months just to socialize after class. Kate always went. She generally kept to herself, not sharing much, but she laughed when someone said something funny or told a good story, and she seemed engaged. But, every single time, when everyone else was enjoying their dinner she simply sat there with her glass of diet soda saying she didn't like to eat that late at night because it would keep her awake. It seemed like as good as an excuse as any at the time, but now it made more sense than ever. Lisa became curious. "Is this a new thing?"_

"_No. We've known for about six years, but I'm sure it was going on long before that."_

"_Has she ever gotten any kind of treatment? I know that there are a lot of really helpful and successful programs out there," she supplied._

_Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. "We tried about three years ago. She was pretty non-compliant. Eventually the insurance wouldn't pay anymore and we couldn't continue out of pocket. It's not always so bad. She goes through phases. When she was in high school, after she and I moved out of her mother's house, I would notice she would take her breakfast with her. I have a feeling she never ate it. Eventually she stopped asking for lunch money but I left it for her all the same hoping she would use it. I don't know what she ended up doing with it. She would go through phases where she would sit and eat dinner with me, and then she would stop for a while and just take a baggie of cereal and a piece of fruit upstairs to her bedroom and saying she needed to work on homework. Sometimes it would be better and sometimes worse. I tried to get her to do what she needed to do to be healthy, but it gets to the point where fighting just doesn't work, y'know?"_

_Lisa didn't know what to say._

_Ryan had a thought. "What if we could stop the TPN long enough for her to eat some lunch and then start it again after, would that work, do you think?"_

_Lisa shook her head. "It's not that simple. If the drip gets stopped and the line isn't flushed with heparin and saline chances are a clot will form and the line will be useless."_

"_What if it was just slowed down to a crawl?" he suggested._

_Lisa thought. "It might work for her, but I know her doctor would never agree to that. If you haven't noticed, he's a bit of a jerk and flat out refuses to hear anyone else's perspective on anything."_

"_Then I'll do it."_

_Lisa was surprised. "You know how to work that thing?"_

_Ryan looked at her. "No, but you do. You can tell me what to do."_

_Lisa sighed. "I can't do that. Well, I guess technically I can, but I won't." She paused to breathe. "Look, I already crossed a line yesterday removing the catheter. I did that because I felt it was the correct course of action medically. This I won't do. Just try to talk to her. Explain that she can't go home until she's off the IV nutrition and that they won't take her off of that until she eats. She's not stupid. Eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, she'll see it's the only thing to do and she'll do what she has to."_

_Ryan processed her words. "I'll try. I've tried to reason with her before and it hasn't done much to convince her to eat."_

"_While that may be true, we both know she wants to go home. This is a fact that will make," she thought about the word, "Persuasion much easier."_

"_Can you help me?"_

_Lisa tugged on her lip with her teeth. "I think ganging up on her might be a little much. I'll come back in, but I'll stay on the other side of the room and work on my work. That sound ok?"_

_Ryan agreed to this and they reentered the room just as somebody came in to remove Kate's uneaten lunch. Ryan intervened. "Could you please just leave it in here for a bit longer? Maybe give her a little more time to eat?" The man agreed and left. An hour later Kate had managed to eat half of her sandwich and drink some of her juice. It was a small victory, but a victory none the less. If things continued the way they were headed she would be able to go home by the end of the week._

* * *

"_Dad? Dad?" Lisa awoke with a start. Years of sleeping with her ears open in order to wake up if she were suddenly needed had her attuned to the slightest sounds. "Dad?" she heard Kate call again quietly. She looked at the clock which read just after one. She got out of bed to see what was wrong. Opening the door, she heard Kate call again. She walked the few feet to the staircase and saw Kate lying down on the stairs, about two thirds of the way up, wrapped in a blanket. It was obvious she was crying._

_Lisa made her way down to Kate and sat down next to her. "Kate, are you ok? What are you doing up here?"_

_Kate sniffled. "I'm sorry, Lisa. I was trying not to wake you. I needed my dad."_

_Lisa put a gentle hand on her back. "I've learned to be a light sleeper over the years. Can I help?"_

"_I leaked. I cleaned myself up and I changed my ostomy bag and all but it got all over my clothes and my sheets and I don't have anything to wear and he did my laundry last night and it's all up here and I was trying to crawl up here to get it but I couldn't make it all the way up and I needed help and…"_

"_Kate, breathe." Lisa started rubbing small circles on her back. "Come on, I'll help you up." She helped Kate get up and they made their way to the guest bedroom where Lisa had been staying. "Sit here. I'll get you some clothes from the dryer." She walked over to the laundry closet and opened the dryer where Kate's clothes were. She fished through until she found a t-shirt, pajama pants, and some underwear. "Here, put this on. I'll go downstairs and take care of the rest of the stuff."_

_Before leaving the room, Lisa pulled out a pair of latex gloves which she carried plenty of in her bag on a regular basis. She made her way downstairs and stopped in the kitchen to find a trash bag. Once located, she made her way to the living room and removed the sheets from the air mattress on the floor. She peeked into the bathroom to find Kate's other clothes. After returning upstairs, she placed the sheets and the clothes into the washer and then removed the gloves and washed her hands. She then started the load of laundry and hoped that the washing machine was quiet enough to not wake up the rest of the house. After this was done, she returned back to the bedroom to find Kate curled up on the bed, now clothed, but still crying. _

_She knelt down on the floor in front of her and moved a tear drenched lock of hair out of Kate's eyes. "Are you hurting?" Kate nodded. "I can go get you your pain meds. Do you know where they are?"_

"_I think they are downstairs in the kitchen on the counter by the dumb looking banana thingy that Meg likes."_

"_I agree, I don't understand hanging bananas either, but I guess some people don't like bowls? I'll be right back." A few minutes later Lisa returned with the medication and a glass of water. _

"_Thank you," Kate said after taking the pills. Within moments, she was again sleeping. Lisa gently pulled the blankets up to cover her._

_Allowing fatigue to overtake her, Lisa walked around to the other side of the bed and lay down, not even bothering to get underneath the covers. About three seconds later she abruptly scampered off of the bed. Clearly, there was nothing going on here, but she could understand how wrong that could look to an outsider. Ryan's daughter lying in bed with her friend. Her much older friend. Her much older lesbian friend, she amended. The friend he let into his house and trusted to help his daughter. His daughter who was currently partially incapacitated by pain and impaired by narcotics. That would not look good. She was more or less certain he would see the situation as she did, but it still felt like a very bad idea. She grabbed a pillow off of the bed and made her way downstairs to the living room to sleep on the couch. She pulled the throw blanket off of the back of the couch and covered herself with it before drifting off._

_The next morning Lisa was woken up by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She extracted herself from the blanket surrounding her and ran a hand through her unruly hair to at least look marginally presentable before walking the short distance to the kitchen. Ryan was sitting at the table with the newspaper and a mug of coffee. "Good morning," Lisa offered. _

"_Good morning," Ryan replied as he looked up from the paper. "I have to admit, I was a little surprised to come down here this morning and find you on the couch instead of Kate on the mattress. Did something happen during the night?" Lisa explained the events of the early morning. "Thank you for helping her. I'm sure I would have woken up eventually, but thank you. Would you like some coffee or breakfast?"_

_Coffee sounded great, and quite frankly, Lisa never turned down the offer of something to eat. "That sounds great. I'm going to go brush my teeth and I'll come back for that. Thank you."_

_A few hours later Lisa's phone rang. She took a look at the caller ID before answering. "Tess, hi." She listened for a moment before becoming appalled. "You told them I was currently involved in an activity of a more physical nature?... I don't care that you never mentioned exactly WHAT that nature was. That was a lie and more importantly entirely inappropriate." She listened again. "Ok, I'll give them a call. I can leave now and I'll be home in about two hours or so. I'll see you then. I love you." She hung up the phone and turned to Kate who had been sitting at her dad's piano playing until she had answered the call. "Kate, I've got to go do some damage control. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I'm living with a twelve year old."_

_Kate made a face. She knew she didn't like Tess, but she wasn't going to say anything to Lisa. If she loved her, that was her business and it was not Kate's place to voice her opinion. "Good luck with that."_

_Lisa ran upstairs to grab her overnight bag and her computer. Coming back downstairs she thanked Ryan and Meg again for their hospitality and told them to keep in touch before saying goodbye to Kate and leaving for Princeton._

* * *

Lisa looked around and saw that the room was finally spotless. The trash had been bagged up, the floor had been swept, and everything else had been put back into its place. Lisa and Allison then took the trash out to the larger cans out back for collection before Lisa walked her through the house to the front door. "Thanks for helping. I really appreciate it." She beamed at Allison. She simply couldn't get enough of her.

"You're very welcome." Suddenly they noticed how every goodbye they have had in the past two months had seemed so awkward.

"Well, I guess I'll see you Monday?"

"Sure." Allison thought for a second. "Actually, I'm working the overnight shift Sunday. It's one of my five overnight shifts a month, so…" She again thought. "I could stop by your office before I leave if you want."

Lisa smiled. "I'd like that. Have a good rest of your weekend."

"You too." With that, Allison turned and walked out the door immediately breaking the tension. _I need to think of something. I need to think of some way to let her know how I feel, _she thought. During her drive home she had an idea, but she was going to need Kate's help after all.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Kate looked at the clock and sighed. It had already been a long night. It was currently 5:05 am and if she didn't get into the freezer right now to pull the food to get it cooking for the morning she was going to be really late. The breakfast items had already been pulled and cooked, but she still needed to get the day's soups and sides as well as more of the usual hot food choices. After making a list and grabbing her sweatshirt, she pushed a utility cart into the freezer and began picking through boxes to find what she needed.

Less than five minutes later the headset attached to the bulky radio hanging from her waste band crackled to life. "Kate! We need you out here right now!" Came the panicked voice of Nick, the 20 year old kid currently manning the registers at the front of the store. As the manager of the store on third shift, it was Kate's job to respond to any situation that might arise. Not knowing what to expect, she left the cart in the freezer and charged out onto the sales floor.

She couldn't immediately see what the problem was, so that at least ruled out a fist fight in the middle of the store. Just a split second later she saw what was happening. A man had just walked in off the street with a head wound that was gushing blood all down his sweatshirt. He seemed disoriented at first glance. Kate jumped into action. "Nick, get the phone. Call 911." She turned to the deli and continued to bark orders as she rushed to the man. "Mary, get the first aid kit," she hollered. She quickly grabbed two pairs of the flimsy food service gloves out of a box sitting on the counter and put them both on, praying that the man didn't have a severe latex allergy. She saw him start to fall and reached him in time to ease him to the floor rather than come crashing down onto it. Mary arrived next to her with the first aid kit. She instructed her to take out one of the absorbent pads and place it on the floor next to the man. She then took out a wad of gauze and pressed it into the head wound to try to ease some of the blood loss.

It was then that Kate saw the man's eyes close as he started to go limp. She eased him into a lying position and talking to him to try to keep him from losing consciousness completely. "Can you tell me your name? What's your name? Can you tell me what happened?" Kate hoped that keeping the man engaged would help to keep him conscious. She couldn't begin to guess what kind of head injury this man had, but she knew that this was the best thing to do.

The man didn't respond to her questions. Instead, he groaned. "I feel like I'm going to puke." Immediately Kate rolled him over onto his side so if he did vomit, he wouldn't aspirate. Just a few seconds later he did vomit onto the now bloodied pad and floor. After trying to make sure he wasn't going to choke, she again returned her attention to the head wound which had bled through the first dressing. She knew that rather than just replacing the gauze she should simply place another wad of gauze on top of the existing one.

It was then that the police and paramedics arrived to take over. "He's got a head wound and he seems disoriented, my guess would be he might have a concussion. He vomited, I don't think he aspirated anything. He nearly lost consciousness, but he's somewhat conscious right now. I did what I could." The EMT looked over the man and made note of what Kate had said and what she had been able to do. He was impressed. It's not every day that you see your average person able to perform first aid on the spot like this.

"You did good work," he told her. "I'm not sure many people who work here would know what the word aspiration means, let alone how to try to prevent it." The man was placed on a stretcher and taken outside to the waiting ambulance.

For the next ten minutes the police officers talked to Kate to get more information about the incident. Before they left she had one question. "Can I ask where he was taken? I'll probably need that for my report."

The officer, who was a regular at the store as many of the local officers were, was happy to answer any question she would have. "We've got him going to Princeton Plainsboro."

Kate was glad. "Thanks. I know a few doctors there. He'll be well taken care of." Surveying the damage around her, Kate realized that she would not be leaving on time this morning. She was thankful, though, that business was still rather slow at the early hour and the customers in the store had been more than understanding about the situation. _I'm gonna be here 'till tomorrow,_ she thought.

Allison Cameron ran up to the side of the stretcher which came crashing through the ambulance bay doors. The EMT gave her a summary of the situation as they quickly wheeled him into an exam area. "Late 20 year old male came into the Wawa store on Madison and Queen with a bleeding head wound. The night shift manager said he may have lost consciousness briefly at the store before we arrived. She performed first aid. It was pretty impressive, actually. She knew to try to keep him conscious if possible, she had him on his side when he vomited to prevent aspiration, she even knew not to remove the first dressing after he bled through it. I'll tell you, she may have purple hair, but she knows how to use the brain underneath it."

Cameron paused. Wawa, night shift manager, purple hair? She immediately smiled.

"Dr. Cameron, is there something amusing about this situation I don't see?" Asked one of her nurses.

"Not at all. I just know exactly who helped this guy out." She turned to the exiting EMT. "Which store did you say he came from again?"

"Right near the intersection of Madison and Queen."

"Thanks." She smiled at the man and immediately resumed working on the patient while thinking to herself. She now knew how she could get in touch with Kate without getting Lisa involved. She then returned her full attention to the task at hand.

Allison looked at her watch. It was about fifteen minutes before nine am. She was supposed to leave around eight. She decided to make a quick stop in Lisa's office on her way out though to tell her about what had occurred a few hours before. Lisa was on the phone when she entered, so she placed the patient's file on the desk in front of her and took a seat in one of the chairs across from the desk. After ending the call, Lisa looked up. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," Allison responded. "Take a look at the chart."

Lisa opened the chart and browsed the ER notes. She didn't really see anything that stood out as unusual with those. "I am reading this and it seems like a typical case to me. What should I be looking for?"

Allison placed her elbows on the edge of the desk and leaned over. "Take a look at the EMT notes at the back. The night shift manager where he was brought in from performed some pretty good first aid before help arrived." Lisa looked at the notes and back at Allison still not following. "He was brought in from the Wawa on Madison and Queen. The manager had purple hair. How many night shift managers at that store do you know with purple hair?"

Lisa looked up from the chart beaming. "A few years ago she told me she wanted to learn first aid because of her summer job as a camp counselor and all, but I wasn't sure that she actually retained any of the information, she was so distracted by the idea of going back to the camp again. I guess she did."

Allison yawned. "I'm really beat. I need to go run an errand and then I'm going to head home to get some rest. I will see you tomorrow."

"Sounds good and sleep well." The two shared a smile before Allison exited the office and went to run her errand.

Fifteen minutes later Allison walked into a bustling Wawa store. She got the attention of one of the employees who was working at a register and asked if there was a manager around. The young man pointed to a middle aged man about ten feet away wearing a forest green polo shirt. "His name is Douglas," the young man added.

Allison walked up to the man and got his attention. Her cover story would look all the more credible considering she was still wearing her pink scrubs and had absently forgotten to detach her ID badge from her pocket. At least she had ditched the lab coat, she thought. "Excuse me? I'm Dr. Cameron. I am the senior attending of the emergency department at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. You had a customer early this morning that was brought to our hospital. I was wondering if you would be able to get me information to get in contact with the manager who was working last night. I just have a few items to follow up on." It was a lie, but he would never know that. She had gotten desensitized to lying after working for House for years.

Douglas gave her a smile. "Of course. I can do better than just get you in contact with her. She's actually still here in the office finishing the incident reports. Her name is Kate. It's back that way. You can go ahead and get any information you need. I'm sure she'd be happy to help."

Allison returned the smile. "Thank you very much. I'm sure this won't take too much of her time."

She made her way across the store and looked into the small office through the open door. Kate was sitting in the office chair with her back facing the door. She was on the phone listening to someone on the other end and taking notes on what was being said. She ended the call and breathed a sigh of relief. This was when Allison decided it was safe to interrupt by knocking on the door frame. Kate didn't turn around before speaking. "Doug, I'm just signing the reports now. I promise I won't forget to scan out spoilage or scan in the Frito-Lay and newspaper delivery bills before I go. Those are the next and last things on my list."

Allison suppressed a chuckle. Obviously Kate was a little stressed at the moment. Suddenly she felt bad for bothering her, but now that she was here she may as well ask for what she came for. "Hey, Kate. It's not Doug, it's Allison."

Startled, Kate leapt out of the chair so fast that she hit the top of her head on the shelf overhanging the desk above the computers. This caused her to ricochet back downward. She would have landed back on the chair she had been formerly occupying had it not rolled backward when she abruptly stood. Consequently, she landed in a pile on the floor.

This time Allison couldn't suppress her chuckle despite the fact that Kate was clearly rattled. She did, however, feel better when Kate stood up and was laughing as well. "Allie, hey. What are you doing here? Not that it's not nice to see you, but I'm just a little surprised."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to scare the crap out of you."

Kate shrugged. "It happens. What's up?" Kate suddenly remembered her manners and gestured toward the vacated chair. "Here, have a seat. It obviously doesn't like me anymore. Would you like some coffee? It's on the house," she offered with another gesture out towards the store.

"That coffee sounds nice, maybe I'll take one to go, but this won't take too long. I treated your customer with the head wound this morning. He's under observation for a few hours, but he should be good as new shortly. I was really impressed with how you handled the first aid before help came. There probably aren't many people working in this store who could calmly pull of what you did. Lisa was impressed too. I told her what you did and she was acting like a proud mom."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm happy I could make her day then."

"There is one more thing I wanted to ask you about too," Allison added. "I could use your help with something, if you have time. Preferably before tomorrow night's class. I mean, not right before, but maybe this evening?" She found herself blushing at the thought of what she had in mind for tomorrow night. She saw Kate raise an eyebrow in question. "It's music related. I wanted to pick music for the jazz warm up. I don't have any specific stuff in mind, but I know you have an extensive library on your computer and I was hoping to get a peek at it?"

Kate smiled broadly. "I certainly do have a library containing a wide variety of styles and you are more than welcome to take a look through it. I could bring it by the hospital later if you'd like."

Allison was elated. "Actually, since I worked all night I'm going home to get some rest, as I expect you are. I could come over to your apartment later though if that would work for you."

Kate thought about her day. "I'm going to go home and try to get some rest as well. I take Josh's Theatre Jazz class from five until six on Monday nights, but I should be home a little before seven at the latest if you want to come over then." She looked at Allison expectantly.

Allison couldn't hide the look of mild surprise which passed over her features. "He teaches? I know he's a great dancer, but I didn't know he had a staff position."

Kate smiled again. "He's one of the best dance teachers I've ever had. Lisa's choreography and style is a hell of a lot of fun and she's a lot of fun in general. Beth, well, you know how she is, she's great too, but Josh, he's got a unique way of doing things. Maybe it's simply the kind of dance he's teaching, but he doesn't just give you choreography and technique, but he describes the character you are supposed to be aiming to portray as well as some of the background of whatever musical the music is from. It's a ton of fun. You'd like it. The only thing is that I'm the oldest in the class, and I'm a good ten years older than the next oldest student. I don't stick out much because I look young." She looked at Allison. "You could probably pull it off too, though, if you wanted to."

Allison thought. "It sounds tempting, but I think I'll just stick to what I'm taking now. So, seven works for you?"

Kate nodded. "Here. I'll give you directions to my house. I'm not too far from Lisa." A few minutes later Allison was pretty sure she knew where Kate lived.

"Thanks. I'll see you tonight then."

Kate caught Allison before she had a chance to leave the office. "Allie, don't forget that coffee!" Allison thanked her again and walked to the rear of the store to pick up a cup of coffee before driving home to rest.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Kate had just settled in on the couch when she heard the knock on her door. Simon got excited as she walked across the room to answer. As soon as the door opened, Simon lunged out and started "talking" to Allison who bent down to scratch his ears. "Hi, Simon! You're an excited one today, aren't you?"

"Yeah, he certainly is." Kate backed away from the door. "Come on in. Sorry about the mess. I am terrible at organisation." Allison looked around. The place was completely Kate, at least, what she thought was Kate from the little she knew about her. There were dance photos up on the wall as well as an oil pastel portrait of Kate and Simon in the same style as the portrait she had seen at Lisa's. On the wall behind the couch there were numerous autographed photos of actors and actresses, most of whom she didn't recognise. Over in the area which could be considered the dining area, had it had a dining table, stood the music room. It contained a Clavinova piano, a cello in a stand, a violin, and what looked to be a flute case on the piano. Obviously Kate's love of music had not been exaggerated by Lisa. "My computer is on the coffee table. You shouldn't have any trouble finding iTunes. Can I get you something to drink or anything?"

Allison was about to answer when something ran into her ankle, startling her. She jumped before looking down and seeing a purple ball roll across the floor. She pointed to the ball. "What the hell is THAT?"

Kate picked up the purple ball and opened the small door on the side. Out crawled a little white mouse. "Her name is Piper. Wanna hold her?"

Allison looked at the mouse. She had to admit, Piper was kind of cute. "I, uh, I'm good, thanks." She kept looking at her before tentatively reaching a finger out. Suddenly she hesitated.

"She doesn't bite, don't worry." Allison stroked Piper's back. She was really soft. "So, can I get you anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm good." She sat down on the couch and made herself comfortable.

"I just got home and I was going to make dinner. I can make something for you, if you'd like." Kate offered.

"No, thank you. You go ahead, I'll be right here." She opened the laptop and started to boot it up.

Kate made her way to the kitchen to begin cooking. She measured out water and poured it into a pot which the then began to heat up on the stove. She then pulled a box of rice out of the cabinet and started to fill a measuring cup to the right line. It was at this time Allison walked into the doorway. She was about to say something when she found she was intrigued at the lengths Kate was going to in order to get the exact amount of rice she needed. Finally satisfied with the measurement, Kate dumped the grains into the pot. She pulled a sauté pan out of the cabinet and placed it on the stove to heat. Out of the refrigerator came a piece of tofu. Kate cut a piece off and placed it on a small meat scale. She started to shave minute quantities off of the piece before she was distracted by the pan which was now hot enough. Using a measuring spoon she put just enough oil in the pan to cook the tofu, which she was again shaving down. Once satisfied, she transferred the tofu to the pan and began to cook it. Allison found herself unable to do anything but watch the process. Kate's attention then turned to a bag of lettuce which she measured out in a measuring cup before dumping into a bowl. Next came the bottle of dressing. She poured the dressing into a measuring spoon and looked at it for a moment before making a decision. "Not gonna happen tonight" she said under her breath before she tossed the spoon, dressing and all, into the sink before returning her attention to the stove. She stared at it before sighing and turning the stove off. She then dumped the half cooked rice and the tofu into the garbage and placed the pot and pan in the sink before turning around and seeing Allison standing there in the doorway. "Allie, I though you were…" she gestured towards the computer.

It was completely clear to Allison that she had just seen Kate completely give up on tonight's dinner. "Your computer is password protected. I was coming to ask you to unlock it, but you were cooking, and I was kind of mesmerized by your process. You do that every day?"

Kate ran a hand through her hair. "How long were you standing there?"

"Since the rice." She saw the look on Kate's face. It was obvious that she expected that sentence to be followed by a doctor's lecture filled with facts, statistics, recommendations, and other such content. "I'm not here for that. Are you ok?"

Kate walked to the couch and sat down. Allison followed. "It's just, there are some days where it's not quite as hard. Those days have become few and far between."

"Have you ever talked about this with Lisa?"

Kate looked at Allison and smirked. "What do you think? She does the whole mom thing. You know, she's supportive and all and she gives me a kick in the ass when I need it, she just doesn't do it in a mean way like my… like some other people. She does the whole doctor thing too." She saw Allison make a face that suggested that she thought that was a bad idea. "It's not what you're thinking. She doesn't treat me medically. Well, not usually. There was that time when I came over and she saw that I had an eye infection and she treated that for me, and there have been other small things like that, like the time I burned my arm at work pretty badly on a Saturday morning, you know, stuff like that. She helped me find a good general practitioner that specializes in treating patients with eating disorders, and she helped me find a psychiatrist and a nutritionist and stuff. Twice since I've known her I've had to go into treatment. Once inpatient, and once intensive outpatient day treatment. She helped me find that stuff to. Her connections are really helpful." Kate smiled.

Allison had an idea. "How about we go out? You know, get some dinner, maybe have some fun?" She saw Kate hesitate. "No pressure, no expectations. We can go someplace you like. Sometimes a distraction is helpful when you are trying to eat. Besides, I'd like to get to know you. You seem like a really cool person, and Lisa really thinks a lot of you. I'd like to get to see the person she knows." She watched as Kate contemplated her decision. "What do you say?"

Kate thought a minute and then smiled. "Ok, but I need a few minutes to change. I spent an hour sweating my ass off in these clothes at the studio so I'm pretty sure they're a little ripe."

Allison rolled her eyes. "Sounds good. I'll be right here."

Fifteen minutes later they were en route to a small place which specialized in homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Kate immediately fell in love with Allison's car. It was a newer model RAV-4, and according to Kate, it had all of the super cool "bells and whistles" that got her all excited.

When they reached the restaurant they went up to the counter and placed their orders before paying and waiting for their food to be ready. After receiving their dinners they found a table and sat down. That was followed by a few tense minutes of Kate simply staring at her wrap. Allison tried to think of a way to put the young woman more at ease. She had an idea. "How would you like to play the question game?" Kate looked at her quizzically. "It's a game where one of us asks a question and the other person has to answer it. Then, the person who asked the question has to answer her own question. This way, it's fair."

"Ok, I could go for that. You first."

Allison contemplated her first question for a second. She would start off with something easy. "Where did you grow up?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Well, I was born in Wilmington, Delaware. When I was three I moved to a place just outside of Richmond, Virginia. At six, I moved to a place just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When I was thirteen, I moved to Luxembourg, that teeny country in Europe. Three years later I moved back to the town outside of Philadelphia. About eight years ago I moved here. Your turn."

Allison was surprised. "My history is nothing near as interesting as yours. I was born and raised just outside of Chicago. Your question."

Now it was Kate's turn to think. "If you could go back in a time machine and burn any article of clothing you've even worn, but not a costume, before you ever had a chance to put it on, what would it be?"

Allison smirked. "Just about anything I wore in middle school. The early 1990's were not the hippest era in fashion history."

"I would definitely have to say the dress my dad's wife made me wear to their wedding. That thing was the most hideous thing I've ever had to wear in my life. I'm not one to wear dresses to begin with, but this one was just awful. It was light blue and it was almost ankle length in the back but came to just about the knees in the front and it had this awful thing in the front that laced up, and to make it all worse, it was strapless. Now, you've probably noticed that for my size, my breasts are huge. In order for the dress to not fall down the top had to be tailored to be really tight. So there I was, standing there in the dress, and all you could see were my breasts spilling out over the top of the dress. It was horrible.

The two went back and forth while eating for a while. Allison came up with an interesting question. "What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?"

This was a tricky one for Kate. She knew, of course, the truly most stupid thing she had ever done, but did she want to share this with Allison? She decided that it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, it was just over ten years ago. Things had changed since then. "Ok, before I tell you, I'm going to warn you that it's really the stupidest thing I've ever done, and I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of ever doing anything like this again. I just want to reassure you of this. If anything were to ever change about that assurance I promise that I will come to somebody and get what help I need. Is that clear?" She studied Allison for a moment.

Allison felt like this was going to be something big. She nodded.

Kate continued. "When I was sixteen there were a lot of bad things that went on in my house. I'm not going to get into all of that right now. There was this one night that I remember, though. My mom was… I don't even remember what she was doing. All I knew was that I had to get out of the house. My dad agreed to take me to a friend's house. My mom absolutely forbade that. I told her if I couldn't leave than she had to. She refused. My parents ended up getting into a big fight and my dad went out for a few hours. I'm not sure where he went, probably just driving or something. That night I snuck downstairs and lifted a partially full bottle of acetaminophen from the cabinet. The next evening I was at school for an orchestra rehearsal and I snuck into the bathroom and took all of what was left. It was somewhere between thirty and forty extra strength pills. At the time, I felt like this was the absolute only way to get away. It was the only option to end what was happening. It wasn't one of those "I'm doing this for attention" kinds of things. I was completely serious. The next morning I was practically projectile vomiting. I hid it from my parents and my sister. I went to school. My first period teacher saw that I was sick. She asked me if I wanted to go to the nurse. I refused. I guess I passed out or something, probably from dehydration from the vomiting. I found out later she literally carried me to the nurse. They called my mom and told her I needed to go to the hospital even though they didn't know what was wrong. I remember during the entire ride there she kept asking me how I could do this to her. She kept saying she had things to do today and taking me to the hospital was taking away from them. I was in tears. Here I was, knowing that what I had done wasn't going to work and I was going to have to continue living with this woman. The hospital did a blood panel and they found out what was wrong. I spent the next week there, followed by thirty three days in a psychiatric hospital, followed by another six weeks in an eating disorder treatment facility. That's the stupidest thing I've ever done." She looked at Allison, trying to gauge her reaction.

Allison couldn't believe that Kate had trusted her enough to open up to her like that. It was pretty huge. She was actually really honored that Kate felt comfortable enough with her to tell her that. Finding her voice, she spoke. "Wow. I'm glad that you are still here with us." _Lame_, she thought. She felt a change of mood was in order, though, so she continued with her answer. "Let's see. The stupidest thing I've ever done. Well, there was this one patient we treated back when I was on House's team who had AIDS. One day I was treating him and he accidently coughed up blood into my mouth and my eyes. I had been exposed. The chances of me contracting HIV from that were negligible, but that's far greater than zero. I was scared and stressed." She decided to omit the part about the crystal meth, better not to bring that up for a few reasons. The first being that she really didn't want Lisa to find out. That would be something that could end her career, especially seeing as she had gotten it from the patient himself. Secondly, she worried that telling Kate, who appeared to be a rather impressionable person even though she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, could possibly validate any sort of possible inclination to experiment she might have. "Well, I was upset. I ended up calling a doctor I worked with, Chase, over to my apartment, and I practically jumped him as soon as he walked in the door. That led to a couple of years of relationshipless sex followed by a rather relationshipless marriage. Admittedly not of the same caliber as your incident, but it wasn't the brightest thing I could have done."

The questions again bounced back and forth for a while. At some point, Allison came up with a more personal question. "Tell me about your first crush. I'm not talking about the person you might have liked in first grade, but your first REAL crush."

Suddenly Kate's heart sped up and her mouth went completely dry. She took a few gulps of her soda before she offered up a response. "Uh, you first," was all she could come up with. She prayed that by the time Allison was finished talking about her crush she would have some sort of acceptable answer to the question.

Allison pretended to be appalled. "Hey, that's not how the game is played!" She got a glare from Kate. "Ok, fine. His name was Brad Milligan. He was my seventh grade science partner. Your turn."

Kate sat in silence for a moment. That was entirely not enough time to formulate an answer. "I, um, I plead the fifth."

Allison looked at her. "You know, that has less to do with not wanting to tell me and more to do with not wanting to incriminate yourself."

"Oh, believe me, I know. That's why I'm pleading the fifth."

Allison studied Kate who was now blushing slightly. "Hmm. Well, whoever this person is, I know him?" Kate made a face. "Her?" Kate's expression was only slightly changed. "I'm going to figure this out eventually, you know. Just give me some time." Kate pleaded with whatever God or Gods existed that Allison would NEVER find out who her crush was…

Kate looked at her watch and noticed that it was now almost nine thirty. "We should go back to my apartment and work on your music."

"You're trying to change the subject," Allison observed.

"Was I effective?" Allison made a face but got up from the table with Kate.

Half an hour later they were sitting on Kate's couch in front of her computer. They had already compiled a playlist of several songs which included Lady, It's About That Walk, and Stuck (Thunderpuss version) among others. Allison looked at the library list again. "What about this one?" She played You Drive Me Crazy (Remix).

Kate laughed hard. "Lisa's gonna laugh your ass out of the room if you pick that one!"

Allison looked at Kate, surprised. "I never said this had anything to do with her."

Kate lifted an eyebrow. "Allie, come on. I see what you're picking. I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree so to speak, but I'm not a complete moron."

Allison had to concede that point. "You're right. But I still want to use that song."

Kate chuckled. "Hey, it's your seduction plan!" She ducked as Allison went to smack her with a throw pillow.

The next song Allison picked was the Michael Buble version of Save the Last Dance for Me. She hit play and Kate cringed. "Not a good one?"

It took Kate a moment to gather her thoughts. "Sure, it's a great song. It's just that we danced to it a long time ago for jazz. It was my first year in the adult classes. It was the single hardest dance I've ever had to get through in my life."

Allison was surprised. "That bad?"

"Well, no. The choreography itself wasn't bad. It's just that there was this one part. We were all in a diagonal line facing the back of the person in front of us, and Josh was facing the front person. We were essentially supposed to all be dancing with him in a way. Anyhows, Lisa was standing behind me in the line. Anybody else and I would have been fine. Seriously. It's just I was so wigged out. I mean, I was scared to death of her. I was so afraid I would step on her foot or smack her with an elbow or something. When I looked at her I saw the most perfect person in the world. She was the best dancer I had ever seen outside of a professional company and she seemed to just have all of her shit under complete control in her life and she was by far the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. I avoided being in conversations that she was part of because I couldn't manage to form a coherent thought around her. It took me months to work up the courage just to ask her about something medical."

At that second Allison leapt to her feet and pointed to Kate. "Oh my God! You pled the fifth!" Kate turned beet red. Not just her face, either, but it extended to her ears and probably her entire head if you could have seen it through her hair. "You… it was… she…"

Kate cut her off. "It was not!"

Allison wouldn't let this go. "You're lying."

Kate started to stammer a little. "It's not like that. I mean, it was, but only until I actually sat down and had an actual conversation with her. Everything changed after that day. Trust me; I'm not your competition. I love her, yes, but it's not like that. It was like that for such a brief period at one time and it was completely one sided. It hasn't been like that for years. I love her in a different way. I never really "loved" her in that way at all. It was just a crush. I swear."

Allison sat back down. "I know. She does seem to have that effect on people, doesn't she?"

Kate nodded. "Allie? Promise you won't tell her? I can't imagine what she would think if she ever found out. I mean, seriously? I really, really, don't want her to ever know…"

"Your secret's safe with me," she said before adding that song to the list. Not long after they burned the playlist onto a CD. "Thanks for your help, Kate."

Kate smiled. "You're welcome. I hope it goes well tomorrow." She walked Allison to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then?"

"Yup. Have a good night, Kate." She turned to the dog. "You too, Simon!"

After Allison left Kate and Simon got tucked into bed, and, still embarrassed, Kate flew off to dreamland.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Tuesday morning had Allison humming the song Save the Last Dance for Me over and over again. For some reason after last night the song was permanently imprinted in her brain and it was driving her crazy. She was standing next to the desk in the ER filling out discharge papers for one of her patients as she heard the song play once again in her head.

"I know that song." Allison, startled, turned around to see Lisa standing behind her. She blushed.

"Yeah, I know. Kate told me you guys danced to it a long time ago. It's kinda stuck in my head right now."

Lisa was curious. "When did you talk to Kate?"

"Last night. We had dinner together." Immediately Lisa was feeling a myriad of emotions. Hurt, betrayal, loss, and others she couldn't yet name. Allison saw the look on Lisa's face and realized she had to clarify. "It's not like that. I was at her apartment…" Now Lisa's mind was racing. Sure, Allison was much closer in age to Kate, but still. She thought there was something there. Apparently there wasn't. All these hours Lisa had spent thinking about the situation and the whole time it was Kate that Allison wanted to be friends (or more) with, not her. Allison saw the new look of confusion join the other emotions playing across Lisa's face. _Just shut up, Allison, _she thought. _You're just digging this hole deeper and deeper. Say something already that will help instead of just make her feel worse._ "I needed her help with something music related. I went over to her apartment to use her music library. She was trying to cook dinner and she got frustrated and just threw the whole thing into the trash. I suggested we go out and get something to eat and just have some fun and maybe that would make things easier for her." She hoped beyond hope that this would satisfy Lisa's emotions.

Immediately the other woman seemed to visibly calm down. "Oh. That was… really thoughtful of you." She started smiling. "Did she eat?"

Allison looked at her seriously. "Lisa, I know you are concerned, but I'm not going to report back to you on what she does or does not ingest. It's not my place. If you want to know, you should ask her directly. You know that."

Lisa knew she was right. "You're right," she said aloud for Allison's benefit. "Thank you for being a friend to her. It really means a lot to me." She thought for a second. "Was she able to help you with your musical problem?"

"You're welcome. She's a friend to me, and I hope she sees me as a friend as well. And yes, she was able to help me with what I needed."

Lisa didn't want to leave Allison's presence, but she knew she had to get some work done. "Well, I guess I'll, ah, see you tonight?"

Allison smiled. "You can count on it."

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Lisa surveyed the outer room of the studio as she walked through the door. Kate and Allison were in conversation about something. She noted that Allison looked uncharacteristically nervous about whatever was being discussed. Tara was sitting by herself in the corner typing away on her laptop, something she usually did before class. The woman was new to the classes this year and generally kept to herself. Lisa thought briefly that it would be nice if she could allow herself to open up a little and "join the party" so to speak when everyone was joking around. She was obviously a private person. As far as Lisa knew, nobody knew what she did for a living or anything like that. The only things Lisa knew about her was that she was about the same age as she was, and she was pretty sure that the woman was in the closet. So far into the closet, she mused, that she probably didn't even know where the damn door was. Josh was laughing loudly at something Michele had said to him before Lisa had walked in. She couldn't suppress a slight cringe at the sight of Brooke talking to Mary at the desk. That woman truly pissed her off, and not just her, but almost everybody in the class. The only person who could stand her was Michele. She decided to take the empty seat next to Allison.

As soon as she sat down the pair's previous conversation ended and Allison's demeanor immediately changed to warm and friendly. She had been about to say something when the attention of the entire room was diverted towards the door. Standing on the other side of the glass door was Toni, who was wearing the most hideous pink and orange hat anyone had ever seen. That wasn't the odd part though; she was carrying a salad spinner. "A salad spinner? To the dance studio? That's strange even for her," Lisa commented. Just then Toni managed to get the door open and walked through. She got about a foot into the room when she tripped over the floor mat by the door. She managed to recover her footing without falling, but the salad spinner went flying. When it hit the floor, the lid popped off and dozens of pieces of leftover Halloween candy spilled out.

"Bummer," Toni commented, looking at the floor. The event seemed so out of place for the setting that most of the room were smiling or chuckling. Kate, however, always amused by someone acting like herself, was practically laughing in fits. The occupants of the room, including Kate, walked over to help Toni pick up the candies. Allison noted that Lisa was laughing a deep throaty laugh. This was perhaps the first time she had ever witnessed Lisa laughing like this. She was stunned to say the least, but she loved it. She was instantly addicted to this laugh. She knew she had to hear it again and again forever. She was soon brought back to reality though.

Kate was curious. "Toni, I've got to know. Of all of the things you could have put the candy in, why a salad spinner?"

Toni looked up, the candy now back in the spinner. "It had a lid."

Now it was Brooke's turn to chime in. "Which clearly worked."

Offended, Toni tried to defend herself. "Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Reminded of a favourite quote of hers Kate spoke next. "The road to hell is paved not with good intentions, but with things that seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Wow, that was actually rather profound, Kate," Allison said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kate asked with mock offense of her own. "I can say something deep now and then you know."

Allison paled. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that."

Kate smiled while she blushed. "It's ok. It's actually a paraphrased line from one of my favourite BBC period dramas from the 1990's. I didn't come up with it on my own." With this several of the people in the room rolled their eyes and laughed.

By this time the candy bowl had circulated most of the way around the room. When Toni reached Allison she declined. "That's probably not a good idea. I was at 186 an hour ago and I didn't do anything because I didn't want to crash while I was here. More sugar is not what I need right now." Lisa looked at her and blinked for a second. This was new information.

Toni gave a knowing smile. "It's sugar free. It's all I can handle too." After this sentence was completed half the room watched as Tara pulled a tissue out of her bag and spit the candy which she had previously been enjoying out. "Guess the power of knowledge ruins things for some people…"

Finally, the door to the studio opened and the ballet students filed out. "Hey, ladies, Josh! Come on in!"

As the group filed into the studio they made an observation. The room was hot and humid and quite frankly, it stank. Brooke was the first one to voice her opinion. "God, it smells like a freaking men's locker room in here."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know why you know what a men's locker room smells like?"

"Use your imagination," Brooke shot back. "Oh, I forgot. Your imagination can't fathom that. You can only think about the things you could do in a women's locker room. Why don't you ask him about it," she said, gesturing to Josh. "At least he's actually seen a penis."

Lisa scowled and continued across the room with some of the others.

"That was unnecessary," Allison commented to Lisa.

"Yes it was. That's Brooke for you. I'm surprised you haven't noticed one of her outbursts before." The pair started to put their tap shoes on.

"Is she homophobic or something?"

Lisa looked at her. "No, she's just rude. She really couldn't care one way or another as long as she's making life miserable for others around her. I figure it makes her feel better about her own miserable life or something." With that the duo made their way onto the floor and Beth began class.

The tap class flew by without any other unusual events. It was finally time for the jazz class. Allison nervously walked up to Beth with the CD that Kate had burned for her the previous night. "Beth?" she started rather timidly.

Beth turned around. "Allie, what's up?"

Allison started to fidget with the disc. "." She wasn't even sure that the jumble of words that had just spilled out of her mouth actually formed a coherent sentence.

Beth looked at her quizzically for a split second and then her expression softened. "Of course, honey. You don't need to be all tense and nervous, it's just music."

Allison knew, of course, that it _wasn't _just music in this case. At least, she hoped that Lisa would be able to see that it wasn't just random songs but rather songs that had a purpose. "Thanks, Beth. I'm sure I'll loosen up a little once I start to stretch. I guess I had a more stressful day than I originally thought." She made her way to a spot on the floor next to Lisa and turned to her. "I have something to say to you," she said before walking a few feet away to begin stretching.

Allison tried to watch Lisa closely throughout the warm up exercises to see if she understood what she was hoping she would. It was thoroughly unclear whether or not her plan was working.

During the third song that played, Lisa noticed that there was something odd going on. No matter which way she was facing she could feel Allison's gaze boring holes into her. She also noticed the music choices. They were all songs that could be construed as songs to get her attention. Add that to the mysterious sentence Allison had said to her right before they began class and it occurred to her that this might just be the sign she was waiting for. This might just be Allison trying to tell her something. She purposefully kept her expression as neutral as possible as she danced, all the while trying to think up something that she could do in order to give a sign back that she had understood and she was receptive to what she was trying to tell her. She didn't want to make a huge gesture, but she needed to do something.

It was nearing the end of class and Lisa was still thinking about what to do when an idea struck her. Well, more accurately, a song stuck her. This song led to an idea. She had a plan. She made sure she was the last one to finish putting her sneakers and jacket on so she could talk to Beth after everyone else had left. "Beth, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I choreographed for next week. I have an idea that I would like to try."

"There seem to be a lot of you guys with ideas today," she observed. "That would be great, it will give me a break. Did you want to do tap or jazz?"

Lisa paused. "I, well, I really hadn't gotten that far yet. I really just had a song I wanted to use."

Beth was interested. "Which song?"

"Mercy, by Duffy. I really like that song."

"I think that song would be better suited for jazz in my opinion."

Lisa agreed. "I think you're right. Jazz it is, then."

"Sounds like a plan! I'll see you next week, Lisa."

"Bye," Lisa shouted over her shoulder and she practically skipped out of the room.

PPTHPPTHPPT

Lisa was late, stressed out, nervous, and generally not ready for what she was going to do tonight as she entered the outer room of the dance studio. She was, however, relieved that Beth had not yet started the class. She entered the open door to the studio itself and everyone fell silent and stared at her. What a comical sight she must have been to them. With the exception of Allison and Kate, only about half of the class had ever seen her in her work attire, and even then, the last time had been about a year and a half ago. She was standing there, just inside the door, wearing a tight black pencil skirt accompanied by a matching suit jacket and a red low cut blouse all topped off with a pair of five inch heels. Hanging from her left shoulder was her dance bag. In her left hand she had her cell phone glued to her ear. Hanging from her right shoulder was her purse, tucked under her right arm were her balled up dance clothes, and in her right hand was a half eaten sandwich.

She finished listening to the latest voicemail and pressed the button to end the call. Taking a large bite of the sandwich she was relieved when Kate came over and started taking items from her. "Arfie ahn gate," she said while chewing.

"She's sorry she's late," Kate translated.

Beth regained her ability to speak. "Take your time. You're here now. You can leave work at work for the next two hours. Rushing is not part of the fun here."

Lisa smiled before picking up her change of clothes. "Thanks. I'll be back in a few minutes." She took another bite out of her sandwich and handed the rest to Kate. "Ee at," she said to Kate.

Kate gave her a skeptical look. "No, thanks, I'm fine. I'm sure you'll want it between classes anyhows." She took a tissue out of the box on top of the sound system shelf and placed the sandwich on it for later.

Toni looked around. "It always freaks me out a little when I see Lisa looking all professional. It's kinda scary."

Allison turned to her. "You have no idea how scary Dr. Cuddy can be…" Kate concurred.

Lisa returned to the room after the flap warm up in time for the shuffles looking much the way she usually did upon arrival to the studio. Her hair was up in a fun yet messy style, she was wearing a tank top with a humorous picture of a talking coffee bean, and she had on a pair of black dance pants along with her tap shoes. She spotted her sandwich and snuck another bite (which was no surprise to Kate) before taking up her usual position in the room and joining in with the class.

At the end of the hour she was feeling much less stressed and actually starting to feel confident about what she had planned or jazz. As she was finishing up the last bite of her sandwich Beth came over to her. "Lisa, did you want to lead the warm up as well or just do the combination?"

Lisa considered for a moment. "I guess I could do the whole class. That's fine. Let me just search for some good music for the warm ups."

"OOH! Great! It's been a very long time since I've taken a class I haven't taught in an actual dance studio. For years I've only been to the workshops that are done at competitions. This will be fun." Beth seemed giddy at the thought.

Lisa walked over to the other side of the room and retrieved her iPod from her purse as well as the ear buds so she didn't have to distract the entire room as she chose some songs. She listened as she thumbed through her library for a minute. Finally something caught her ear. She started to just barely dance in place listening. This would be perfect. She had a random selection of music from The Black Eyed Peas, starting with the single, Dirty Bit, which was going to be the opening track to their latest album due out at the end of the month.

The students finally settled down and took their usual places around the room. While they were never assigned spots, everyone seemed to find a place in the beginning of the year that they just felt was their own and they seemed to stick to it. Allison and Kate were surprised to find that instead of Lisa standing between them they found Beth. They noticed Beth's usual spot, front and center, still empty and Lisa was standing by the sound system still fiddling with her iPod. Allison shot Kate a silent, "What's going on?" glance. Kate just shrugged and shook her head in a, "Damned if I know," fashion.

The warm up Lisa did was similar to Beth's but not exactly the same. Half the room was cussing at her under their breath because she had a tendency to try to stretch you harder. The final straw for Brooke was when Lisa decided that after doing the hamstring stretch on their backs they were going to flip over into full splits.

"My God. You really are a cruel bitch, y'know that?"

"Look, if you think calling me a bitch is going to upset me, you have no idea who you're dealing with. I get called that at least twice a day at the hospital. I can take any kind of lip you can give me." Lisa surveyed the room. About a third of the class, Kate and herself included, were completely lowered into a full right split. The rest of the class, minus Brooke, were stretching as well as they could. "I don't see anyone else complaining, they're just trying their best, which is all I expected anyone to do, Bitch."

Beth chose now to intervene. "Lisa, please. Can we move on now?"

"I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "It just popped out before I could control myself." The rest of the class silently snickered. At this point Lisa led the class in doing the hamstring stretch on the left followed by the left split. This time Brooke held her tongue. Following this were the push ups and the planks.

After the warm up, Lisa was fully prepared for, and psyched about her combination. Lisa and Allison and a few others had exited the room to get water from the fountain or take care of other things that needed to be done such as checking voicemails. That was when a beeping noise started from the side of the room where about half of the class stored their bags while they were dancing.

Michele walked over to the bags. "I think Lisa's beeping."

"That's not Lisa. She stopped carrying a beeper like two years ago or something. It must be Allie," Kate replied. She walked out of the room and spotted Allison talking to Lisa. "Allie, I think someone's trying to get in touch with you. Your bag's beeping."

Lisa's stomach suddenly got lodged in her throat. This can't be happening. She had this planned out so well. Allison can't leave right now. Maybe they just need a consult. That wouldn't be so bad. She wouldn't have to leave. She was sure, though, that that would be too simple. She followed Allison into the room, devastated.

Allison listened. "That's not me," she said before opening the door and exiting the room to the outer room. "Does anybody out here have a beeper? Somebody's bag is beeping and it's not me."

Suddenly Tara started running full speed at the door before shoving it open without slowing. Stunned, the rest of the dancers outside followed her in. She continued to fun full speed before quite literally skidding to a halt next to her bag and pulling out the dreaded device.

Toni made an observation. "You really do know how to make an entrance, don't you."

"It's a gift," she said before reading the message. Then she simply lost it. She started pulling her shoes off and throwing them into her bag. "Two hours a week! Just two freaking hours a week, that's all I ask for." By this time she had slipped her shoes and jacket on and was making her way across the floor. "Sure, delivering babies is great until you wake up one morning and realize you haven't had a life of your own in twenty years!" She took the final steps to the door and flung it open. "I haven't gotten laid in a year, people!" She exited the room and the door shut on a group of very stunned dancers.

Toni made another observation. "She's pretty good at making an exit, too."

"Anything I might have to say just seems that much more insignificant following that," added Beth to the still stunned room.

Allison leaned in to Lisa. "She doesn't work for you, does she?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Nope, and I think I'd like to keep it that way."

Beth decided that it was time to resume class. "Lisa, care to continue?"

"Sure." She turned to Allison and leaned closer to her. "I have something to say to you," was all she said before walking away to the front of the room.

After teaching about half of the combination she had choreographed she decided it was time to add some music. This was the moment of truth. If Allison was listening, she would hear what Lisa had to say. She turned on the song. They did the combination once and she saw no connection for Allison about the music. After the second time she still didn't see anything. At this point she polled the room. "Would you like to go on or should we do it again?" The consensus was to do it one more time and then go on. The third time Lisa was dancing, but at the same time staring intently at Allison in the mirror. All of a sudden she saw a dawning of realization appear on Allison's face. The look turned into a huge smile. This had Lisa so distracted she completely forgot she had been dancing and just stood there until she noticed that the part she had taught was finished. Mission accomplished, she thought. She turned around to survey the room before continuing with the rest of the choreography when she saw the look on Kate's face. It was clear that she knew that this was all for Allison.

Class was over all too soon. Lisa sat down on the window ledge next to Kate and started to change her footwear. She was suddenly feeling like a shy teenager. She couldn't believe what a bold gesture she had just made. This was not something she usually did. As in charge as she is professionally, she knew she tended to take a back seat in her personal life. She felt a hand on the back of her shoulder. Her first thought was that it was Allison but quickly dismissed the thought as she saw her about ten feet away. She turned her head and saw Kate's concerned expression.

"Lise, are you ok?"

Lisa managed a tentative half smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel… I really don't know what I feel. I'm happy, excited, nervous… in shock even. I'm shocked that I did what I did tonight. What if we try this and it doesn't work. I don't know if I can deal with another break up right now. What if-"

Kate silenced her. "Lisa, nobody knows how a relationship is going to turn out. You haven't even been on a date yet. Sure, you've known Allie for years, but this is different. Just go for it. Be yourself. Oh, and you don't need to worry about one thing: she's already seen the scary as hell side of you that you use at work and she is still interested in you. It'll either work out or it won't, but you will never know until you give this a chance." Kate smiled reassuringly.

Lisa smirked. "I can't believe I'm taking relationship advice from 'Ms. Never Had A Relationship'. But you're right. Ready to go?"

"Seriously? You just answered her very public statement with a very public statement and you're just going to leave? You guys need to talk, or something!" Kate was almost scolding her.

Lisa's brow wrinkled. "I honestly don't know if I could produce a coherent sentence in her presence right now. It's probably best if I just talk with her tomorrow. I know where she works."

Kate made a face. "Chicken."

"Klutz" Lisa retorted. "C'mon. Let's go." Just then she caught Allison looking at her. She smiled a shy smile which was met with a large one.

Allison followed them out the door and down the stairs from a short distance. She watched Lisa give Kate a quick hug before they parted ways in the parking lot as she got into her own car. Kate drove away, but Lisa was searching for something in her bag, probably her keys. After a moment she unlocked the car and that was when Allison made a quick decision. She got out of her car and walked over to Lisa who had her back turned as she threw her bags into the back seat. Allison placed a warm hand on Lisa's hip. Startled, she turned around. Before she could say anything Allison backed her up against the side of the car and pressed her own lips to Lisa's. The kiss quickly deepened.

Upstairs, Beth checked that the lights were off in both studios as well as the outer room before locking up the main door and descending the stairs and exiting. On the way to her car something caught her eye. She looked over and saw Lisa and Allison in the midst of what appeared to be an intense make out session, oblivious to the outside world. "Well damn," she said in surprise. She had known for years that Lisa dated women. She had never really been completely sure if she was a lesbian or bisexual, but she was pretty sure at this point that it was the former, not that it really mattered to her. She thought back. The event happened about twelve years prior. She had known Lisa for a little over two years. She and her husband had finally decided to get a babysitter for their young daughter and spend an evening together just themselves. They went to a small Italian restaurant nearby. After they had been seated she noticed Lisa and another woman at a table near the other side of the restaurant. It was obviously a date rather than a dinner between two friends. Allison, on the other hand, was a complete surprise to her. "You go ladies." Smiling, she got in her car and left.

Finally becoming desperate for air the two broke apart and stared into each other's eyes. Even in the darkness it felt possible to see into the soul of the other. Surprising herself, Lisa was the first one to find her voice. "I'm glad you got Kate to help you with the music. You picked good songs mostly, but Brittney Spears? Have you no dignity?"

Allison chuckled. "It got your attention, didn't it?"

Lisa smiled before feeling bold yet again. "Would you like to come over? I could make us some dinner. We could talk, or, maybe, do some more of what we were just doing." Suddenly aware of the public setting they were standing in she added, "In a more private setting."

Allison smiled. "I'd love that. I'll be right behind you." She placed a hand on Lisa's cheek and gave her a chaste kiss before walking back to her own car. During the entire ride back to Lisa's house she couldn't wipe the silly grin off of her face. The memory of the feeling of Lisa's lips pressed against her own was almost surreal.

Not too long later Allison was watching closely as Lisa was cooking a late dinner. She couldn't help herself from walking over and wrapping her arms around the other woman's waste as she cooked. "What are you making?" she asked.

Lisa turned her head around and gave Allison a quick kiss. "Just some pasta. I thought a nice garlic and oil sauce would be ok for tonight. It doesn't take as long as a tomato based one. Do you like your food a little spicy?"

Allison smiled. "Spicy is good."

Lisa grinned back. "I'll add some red pepper flakes then… and I was intending to add some sliced mushrooms?"

"Mmm. Sounds great."

They sat across from each other as they ate, both looking at the woman across the table. Conversation didn't revolve around anything of much significance and they both felt quite relaxed. Suddenly Allison got nervous. "Lisa, I don't, I, really, I'm not sure if I'm ready for… anything… more than what we've been doing. I mean… like… sex, or anything. This is all really new to me."

Lisa just looked at her over a forkful of pasta. She put the fork down. "Allison, nobody said anything about that. There is no pressure here. Sometime, if there is a time, when we both feel ready, it might happen. I'm not expecting anything tonight, or even tomorrow, or any time soon. When we are both ready, if what we have goes that way, it will happen when it's time."

This satisfied Allison's nerves. The conversation again turned light. When they were finished eating they cleaned up and moved to the living room. They found themselves at a loss for something to do. Neither one wanted to end the evening just yet, but thinking about an activity seemed difficult for some reason. "We could watch a movie," Lisa suggested.

Relieved that the awkwardness was over for the time being, Allison agreed. They both stood in front of the shelf looking. "I'm in the mood for a comedy, how 'bout you?"

Just then Lisa spotted a good one to watch. "Have you ever seen this?" Lisa held up Meet the Fockers. "In my opinion it's better than the first one."

Allison looked at the DVD case. "I don't know if I have. I'm pretty sure I saw the first one, though. It looks good." She handed the DVD back to Lisa who got the movie set up to play.

The two were simply enjoying being in each other's company. She wasn't sure when it started, but at one point Allison became aware of the fact that she had a bad headache. This caused her to evaluate how she was feeling otherwise and she could tell that her sugar was getting pretty high. In all of the excitement of the evening she had completely neglected to take care of herself. "Lisa? Can we pause this for a minute?"

"Sure," she said as she pressed the button to stop the movie.

Allison got up and started to walk towards her bag by the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes." After retrieving what she needed from her bag she walked back through the room and towards the bathroom down the hall.

When she sat back down on the couch Lisa turned to her. "That's not going to scare me, you know. I'm an endocrinologist in case you've forgotten. Believe it or not, I've actually taught people how to measure glucose and inject insulin."

Allison wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh," was all she came up with initially. "It's just I'm not much for showing off my dirty laundry on the first date…" Both women shared a laugh before returning to the movie.

At her apartment, Kate was finally relaxing. She had gotten home and taken care of Simon. After enjoying a hot shower, she put on her favourite winter pajamas. It was November, finally, and she could make a case for wearing her fleece pajamas with feet. The pair she liked the most was dark blue and it had brightly coloured rocket ships on it. She was standing in the kitchen peeling a grapefruit for dinner when it occurred to her that she had not brought in her dance bag. It was no secret that she had what some would refer to as a foot odor problem, so she always liked to air out her dance shoes after sweating in them during class. She quickly ran out to her car and retrieved the bag. It was only when she reached the light of her living room that she saw that it wasn't actually her bag. True, she and Lisa had the same black bag. So did a couple of others in the class. Normally this wouldn't have been much of an issue, but…

"No, no, no, no, no. Not good. Not good." It wasn't the bag itself, it wasn't even the stinky shoes, it was the OTHER thing in the bag. The thing that Lisa could not, under any circumstances, find. Surely by now she had found it. Kate's heart started racing. She had to get her bag back before Lisa found it. Without bothering to put shoes or a jacket on, Kate grabbed her keys and drove to Lisa's house. The single thought in her mind was that she needed desperately to intercept the bag before Lisa looked in it.

She parked her car on the street in front of the house and nearly ran up to the front door. She could have simply let herself in, but she only did that when Lisa was either expecting her or not home. Neither of those situations applied, so she knocked on the door a few times.

The knock at the front door startled the women on the couch. Lisa got up to see who was at her door. She barely had the door open when Kate launched herself through the threshold. She quickly started pacing back and forth down the front hallway while talking in one long run on sentence. "I took your bag by accident and you have mine and I need to have mine back because you can't look inside it because if you do you will find it and that would be very, very bad and I can't let that happen because-"

By this point Allison had become curious about what was going on and joined Lisa in the front hall. "Kate!" Lisa practically shouted. Kate continued pacing and talking. Lisa walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders to stop the forward motion. She turned Kate around and looked at her. What she saw in the young woman's eyes was pure terror. "Kate, what am I going to find?" she asked in a more gentle tone.

Kate made a move to start pacing again. "Saturday was the last time. I promise I won't do it again. I promise. Just Saturday. Saturday, Saturday, Saturday…"

"What's she talking about?" Allison asked.

"I really have no idea." Lisa looked down at the floor where her own (or rather Kate's) bag was. She was torn. It wasn't her bag and she really had no good reason to go searching through Kate's things except that clearly there was something going on here that Kate needed help resolving. Kate started pacing her way through the living room having gotten tired of the front hall. Lisa made a decision to find out what she was hiding. She opened the bag and looked for a few seconds before finding a small plastic bag containing four little pills. She pulled the bag out and showed it to Allison. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."

Allison looked at it. "I wish I could. Without testing it I can't say for certain, but I'm thinking… Do you think she's high right now? I mean, she's obviously nervous, she's pacing a hole into your carpeting, she's talking incessantly to herself… Damn. I might have been able to prevent this."

Lisa knew one thing for sure right now. "I am pretty sure she's not high right now. When I looked at her, I looked in her eyes. She was scared to death, but nothing about her pupils seemed abnormal, although I have to say I wasn't looking for that at the time. She keeps talking about Saturday and said she wouldn't do it again. If she isn't going to lie about using, why would she lie about when she was using? I think this is psychological not drug induced."

Kate came pacing back into the hall and saw Lisa standing there with Allison who now held the drugs. For a moment Kate simply froze and stared. The next second found her running through to the dining room and curling up over her legs underneath the table. She was rocking back and forth while holding the back of her head with her hands. She was crying and again talking to herself.

Lisa looked at Allison, who's gaze oscillated between Kate under the table and Lisa next to her. She shook her head. "Um, hm. Has this ever happened before?"

Lisa brought her palm to her forehead. "Not ever in my presence."

Slowly, Lisa made her way towards the table and crouched down on the floor. "Kate?" she said softly. She got no response so she reached a hand out to touch her shoulder.

Kate jerked her shoulder away and started screaming. "No! No! Don't touch me! Don't hurt me! I'll be good!" Kate lifted her head just enough that Lisa was able to see her face and more importantly, the look in her eyes. In the back of her thoughts she confirmed that her pupils were indeed normal, but that wasn't what she noticed the most. It was the look.

She stood up and walked back to Allison. "This is really bad. That look in her eyes. I've seen that look before. I saw it the one time I met her mother. I also see it when she remembers something that happened that has to do with her mother." She took a deep breath. "I think that right now when she sees me, she isn't seeing me. I think when she looks at me she sees her mother."

"Let me try to help her," Allison offered. "It might be different. She sees you as a mother figure. Hopefully she'll recognize me as me."

She got down on the floor by the table and was about to say something when Kate's head came up again. "Get out of here, Car! Leave me alone! This isn't any of your business!" Kate shouted before kicking out with her leg. Allison narrowly escaped a kick to her ribs before standing up.

"Who's Car?" she asked Lisa.

"Carrie's her sister."

"I guess my idea didn't work. What are we going to do?"

Lisa had been thinking about another idea. "We need to call her psychiatrist. I don't think I can handle this by myself. I don't think this is something that she's likely to just sleep off without help. I need to know what to do. I don't know her phone number. My computer is in the other room, could you look it up for me? Her name is Mercedes Francis."

Lisa was again down on the floor trying to see if there was any way to get to Kate. A little while later Allison came back into the dining room. "I called her office and got the answering service. I gave them your cell number and they said she would call you back." She looked at Lisa on the floor. "Any change?"

Lisa looked up at her. "No. I'm not going to try to get any closer to her just yet, though."

After nearly five full minutes of feeling helpless, Lisa's phone rang. "Cuddy," she said after bringing it to her ear.

"_Dr. Cuddy, this is Mercedes Francis. I got a message that you needed to speak with me."_

"Yes, thank you for returning my call so quickly. Kate Kramer is here at my house and she's having a big problem. She came over in a panic over something she was worried I would find. When I did find it, she ran and is hiding underneath a table. She's talking to herself and crying and shaking. Neither me nor my friend could get near her. She called my friend Carrie, and when she looks at me it's like she's seeing her mother. I don't know what to do to help her."

"_How long has she been like this?"_

"She's been under the table for about twenty minutes."

"_Has she calmed down at all since then?"_

"No."

"_This has happened a couple of times over the years. When she is able to calm down by herself it happens sooner than this. When she isn't… There was one instance where I had to intervene pharmaceutically."_

"You want me to drug her?"

"_I know it sounds extreme, but it really is better for her than letting her spend what could be hours in this state. I assume you have access to Haldol?"_

"Yeah, of course I have access to it, but I don't have any here at my house."

"_I can call in a prescription for it for her. Is there someplace that's good for you?"_

"I guess the best place, especially this time of night, is my hospital, but it will be at least half an hour before we can get it in her."

"_I'll call it in and you can pick it up for her. If she calms down by then you don't need to give it, but if she hasn't, it's really the best thing to do for her in the immediate sense. I'll talk to her at her appointment Thursday. I wish I could fit her in tomorrow, but I'm actually going to be out of the office. Call me back if you have any questions or any other problems."_

"Thank you for your help. You'll hear from me if we need anything."

Lisa ended the call and knelt down next to Allison. "I need to run over to the hospital. Her doctor said that chances are at this point the only way to get her to calm down is to give her some Haldol. I'm not fond of the idea, but I'm not a psychiatrist. She's calling it in to the pharmacy."

The two doctors stood up. "Lisa, let me go. You stay here with her. If she does calm down, seeing you here will probably be more comforting. I know I'm a friend, but your relationship is much more than that."

Lisa saw the logic in what Allison had said. "Alright. Thank you."

Half an hour later Allison returned to the house with the medication. She walked into the dining room and the scene was more or less unchanged. Lisa was sitting on the floor a few feet away from where Kate was folded up under the table. She had stopped talking to herself but she was still shaking and crying. "Ok, so, I have the meds, but how are we going to get them into her?"

Lisa thought about this for a few moments. "Well, a large muscle would be my first choice, but seeing as she is covered from her neck to her toes in fleece that will be difficult. I'm guessing she won't just roll up a sleeve and give us access to her arm?" She got a sarcastic glance from Allison. "I have an idea. I'll try to keep her attention on one side of the table and you try to get access from her other side. That might just work."

Allison nodded. "Ok. Sounds like a plan."

Lisa made her way around to the other side of the table and got back down onto the floor. Quietly, she started to sing a melody unfamiliar to Allison, who got down on the floor on the other side of Kate. When both women felt Kate's attention had been diverted sufficiently, Allison grabbed her arm. Kate immediately started struggling against her grip and resumed her stream of chatter. As if on instinct, Lisa threw herself on top of Kate to hold her still and pulled her arm away from the rest of her body. "Now," she instructed. Not being able to see the arm through the sleeve, Allison quickly felt for where she would inject the medication before she administered it. As soon as this was done they both backed away and waited for it to take effect.

Allison sighed. "Wow. That was… Are all of our dates going to go like this?"

Lisa ran a hand through her hair. "Nah. She didn't know you were here. If she did, she wouldn't have come. Well, maybe in this instance she would have anyway. She rarely came over when Tess was home."

Allison looked at Kate and then back at Lisa. "You don't think that might have more to do with the fact that she didn't like Tess than it does with her intruding on your personal time, do you?"

"You know? I never really thought about it that way…"

Allison looked back down at Kate who was now sedated. "What do we do now?"

"I'll move her to the other room. I'm worried that if I put her on the couch she'll fall off and get hurt during the night. I'll get some blankets and a pillow and get her tucked in on the floor. I've found her sleeping on the floor on more than one occasion over the years so I doubt she'll mind it." She went to the bedroom and pulled some items from the closet before making a makeshift sleeping bag on the floor of the living room. Then, with Allison's help, she maneuvered Kate out from under the table and picked her up without any difficulty. She saw Allison look at her. "I'm stronger than I look, and she's not heavy." She walked to the other room and put her down on the blankets. "I guess she'll be here for a while. I should go get Simon."

"I'll stay if you want and make sure she's ok," Allison offered.

"Thanks. That would be really helpful."

Allison sat down on the couch. "Oh, don't forget to feed and water her rodent!" she called out as Lisa walked to the door. All she got in response was a smirk as the other woman left.

A little while later Kate was finally situated and sleeping on the floor next to the couch and Simon had curled up next to her. Allison had an observation to state. "Lisa? I don't mean to suggest anything, but I just have this feeling. Kate showed up at your house, late at night, in a complete panic, dressed in pajamas with feet with little space ships on them. She then ended up having what could be considered a psychotic episode under your dining room table and didn't see us for who we really are. This is, obviously, not normal behavior. I'm thinking she may have suffered some sort of trauma when she was younger.

Lisa just looked at her. "Really? You think?" she deadpanned. She sighed. "I don't know the whole story. She never told me, but I agree with you. From the little I know of her mother, and what I saw the one time I met her, I think she must have had some sort of trauma growing up. I don't know what it is, and I am hesitant to bring it up because I'm worried that talking about it will rehash the entire thing. I know it happened, and I would like to know how to help her. I just don't want to open wounds that she has tried to heal, even if they are partially healed by trying to forget."

Allison and Lisa, now exhausted from the entire day's worth of activities leaned back on the couch next to each other. Lisa decided it was time to open up the topic Allison had so briefly mentioned earlier. "So you said you may have been able to prevent this. I'm curious as to how."

Allison leaned into her. "Last week when we were having dinner we played a question game. We each asked questions and we both had to answer. One of the questions asked was about the stupidest thing we had ever done. She gave me a very long answer and then it was my turn." Lisa opened her mouth to say something, but Allison placed a finger on her lips to silence her before she could begin. "I told her about how my relationship with Chase began. You probably know most of the story. It was when we were treating the man with AIDS and I had been exposed to HIV. That night was the first time Chase and I had sex. You know that ended up leading to a few years of meaningless sex followed by a brief meaningless marriage."

Lisa knew this part of the story. "I get how that may have been a stupid thing, but I really don't see the connection between that incident and how you could have helped Kate."

Allison suddenly realized what she was about to do and changed her mind. "I really shouldn't tell you."

Lisa looked into her eyes. "Allison, you can tell me anything. I won't judge you."

Allison looked away, ashamed. "I know you won't, Lisa, but if I tell you, Dr. Cuddy might have a big problem with it."

Now Lisa was even more curious. "I can put her away for a while. It's just us here. I promise."

Still looking away, Allison sighed. "That night when I slept with Chase? I was high on crystal meth."

There was a long pause before Lisa spoke, quietly. "You told her you used drugs, and by doing that you feel like you may have given her the impression that perhaps drugs were not a horrible idea."

Allison sat up and looked directly at Lisa. "That's just it, I DIDN'T tell her about that. I left that part out completely. I didn't tell her for that exact reason… and I didn't want you to end up knowing about it either. Maybe if I had told her, she might have seen that while my mistake wasn't nearly as bad as drug related mistakes get, there are almost always consequences. I'm sorry. If you need me to give you a urine sample or some blood or some hair or something to prove I haven't been using I'm more than willing to do that for you," she added as she again leaned into Lisa.

Lisa wrapped her arms around Allison. "I believe you that you haven't used since. I know you, and I know that you don't generally do things like that. Having said that, I'll think about your offer. It might be a good idea just for hospital records. Give me some thinking time." At this point the pair shifted and now Lisa was snuggled into Allison's arms.

At some point Allison noticed that Lisa had fallen asleep. "Lisa," she said gently as she tried to nudge her awake. This only caused the other woman to snuggle deeper into Allison's arms. "Lisa, sweetie, wake up." She saw one eye open lazily. "You should get some sleep in your own bed and I need to go home to get some sleep too."

Lisa pouted as she sat up. "But I was comfortable there," she complained.

Allison smiled. "So was I, but if we had stayed like that all night there would have been some hell to pay in our necks tomorrow."

Lisa agreed. The two walked to the door. "I guess I'll see you around tomorrow then."

Allison smiled. "Of course." The two shared a deep goodnight kiss before Allison made her way out to her car and drove home.

Lisa made her way back into the living room and looked at Kate asleep on the floor. She was a little hesitant to just leave her in the room there by herself. She made the decision that she would stay there with her. After putting on some comfortable pajamas and getting ready for bed, she grabbed another pillow and blanket and made herself comfortable on the couch. Before falling asleep she thought hard about how to handle Kate's newest situation. She had no experience with this type of thing and she wasn't sure where to begin, but she would do what she could.

Early the next morning she woke suddenly. Her eyes were still shut and she didn't hear any noise, but she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. She slowly opened her eyes and her heart practically skipped a beat. Kate was standing over her, her deep brown eyes staring at her from mere inches away. In her hand was a steaming cup of coffee. "Shit, Kate, you really need to learn a new way to wake people up. You could send someone into cardiac arrest like that."

Kate backed up half a step and held out the steaming mug sheepishly. "Sorry. Coffee?"

Lisa sat up and took the offering. "Thank you."

Kate sat down next to her. "I'm really sorry about last night. I don't really even know what happened. I just panicked. I don't even remember anything really after knowing that I had to get here, and it had to happen RIGHT THEN. I can't even explain it. My thoughts were just all so jumbled up and I couldn't think about anything. Bits and pieces of… stuff… were just floating around and wouldn't leave. I don't know. It's happened before once or twice over the years where I just didn't even know what I was doing. Like I said, I don't even know what happened after I got here."

Lisa turned Kate's face towards her own. "Kate, I can't pretend to understand what was going on inside your head, but what I do know is that what you knew I was going to find triggered something inside of you that brought back some things from your past that you, for the most part, had managed to suppress to the point where when you had to face a similar situation you saw yourself in the old one. I also know you couldn't control what was happening inside your head." She placed her coffee down on the table in front of her. "We do, however, have to talk about what I did find, but we will have that conversation later. Unfortunately I really have to be at the hospital soon for a board meeting and I will be in more trouble than you know if I miss it. This IS important, and we WILL talk soon. You won't get out of this that easily."

Kate looked away again. "I know."

"Kate, look at me." Reluctantly, Kate again looked in Lisa's direction. "I am always here for you, no matter what you need. Any time you want to talk about something, just ask. Nothing you say to me will change that. I'm not your parents. You're not going to get in trouble, or yelled at, or punished, or anything like that, ok?"

Kate started to tear up. She wrapped her arms around Lisa and buried her face in her shoulder. "Thank you." After a few minutes Kate pulled back and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas.

"I have to get ready for work. You and Simon are more than welcome to hang out here for as long as you'd like."

Kate gave a half smile. "Thanks for the offer, but we should go home too. Thank you so much for last night and everything. I'm still sorry though."

The two stood up and Lisa gave Kate a last hug. "I'll call you later," she said before making her way to the bedroom, allowing Kate let herself out when she was ready.

PPTHPPTHPPTH

Cuddy just couldn't keep the smile off her face as she was typing a proposal later that morning. She suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she shouted.

Wilson walked in and took one look at her and knew something was up. He was pretty sure he knew what it was. He pointed to her. "You're seeing someone."

She still couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she lowered her pen to her desk. "What makes you say that?"

"I haven't seen you smile like that in years," he said.

Lisa was still smiling yet baffled. "What do you mean? I only broke up with my ex a few months ago."

He knew better. He sat down in a chair across from her desk and crossed his legs. "I know you weren't happy long before that. So tell me. Who is she?"

The smile immediately disappeared from her face. "She? What makes you say she?" she said in a slight panic.

Wilson looked apologetic. "Look, Cuddy, Lisa, we've known each other for what, eleven? Twelve years? You kind of figure these things out after a while."

Cuddy was in disbelief. Then she got suspicious. "What did House tell you?"

Wilson simply looked at her sympathetically. "House didn't say anything. Honestly, though, I don't understand why you are so worried about people knowing. It's the twenty first century. It's not like you're going to be executed for loving another woman." She gave him a look that told him he better get back to the subject. "Like I said, there are some things you just can't hide from your friends in this amount of time no matter how hard you try. There are always some things that just spill this kind of secret."

Cuddy still didn't believe him. "Like what."

"Do you really want to know?"

She did. "Yes. I don't want to make the same mistake more than once."

He wasn't sure where to start. "Well, for starters, you were two grown women living together in the same house."

Cuddy looked at him squarely. "You and House live together."

"That's different. He's got a drug problem." Wilson shifted. "So you have two adults sharing a house. It obviously wasn't for financial reasons. You're the Dean of a hospital, she's a corporate attorney. Between the two of you I'm sure you could have afforded three houses like yours."

Cuddy wasn't convinced. "There's more from the look on your face. Keep going."

Wilson sighed again. "Ok. Well, a long time ago you had a few of us over for dinner. It was getting late and your "roommate" told us she had to be up early for work and she was going to bed. You told her you would be "in" soon. About a year later you were ranting about your "roommate" and talking about your spare bedroom in the same paragraph. You live in a two bedroom house. Two years ago though, that was the dead giveaway. You let me stay at your house while I had a roach bomb going off at mine, remember?" He looked at her as she nodded. "You let me use Tess's "bedroom" and she stayed in yours. Memo: next time you have a house guest who might need to use the bathroom after midnight? Make sure you aren't having intimate relations down the hall if you don't want him to know you two are more than roommates…"

Cuddy turned a dark shade of crimson. "I see your point. I get it. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes."

Wilson wasn't done. "You still haven't told me who you're seeing which leads me to believe I know her."

Cuddy cringed. "I really don't know that she would appreciate me spreading the word about us at this time."

Wilson gave her a look. "Are you seeing Thirteen?"

"Oh God, no. Absolutely not. I am definitely not involved with Thirteen. It is absolutely somebody else. Besides, she's Kate's age. I'm not about to rob the cradle or anything!"

Wilson got the idea and raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok, I get it. You'll tell me about her when you're ready. I hope this goes well for you. You deserve some happiness. I'll talk to you later."

"Thank you." Cuddy was genuinely happy to have a friend like Wilson. "I appreciate that you have thus far not blabbed my "deepest, darkest secret" to anybody. When we are ready, if it gets to that point, you will be one of the first to know, I assure you. And thank you for your wish of happiness."

Wilson nodded to her and left her office. She was disturbed at how many mistakes she had made over the years in regards to keeping her secret, but she was glad that Wilson understood. She returned to her work, again plastered with the smile she had been wearing before.


End file.
